1S5 EFFECT OF OAXVANISM IN METALtre ARBORlZATfON!^. 



ebmpletefTy with the facts, which prove beyond questidn;*Vhkl 



the water becomes oxigenizcd at the positive "pol^/anifHi- 



drooruretted at the negative: for, since the oxi^jjeti 6f th'fe 



whole quantity of water traversed by the giilvanic diifreiit 



tends incessantly, to proceed toward the pole endned witb 



vitreous electricity ; and the hidrogen is similarly affect^ji 



With regard to the wire charged with resiiioiis i^leiftriVfty ; 



it evidently follows, that the water mnstbecom^6xl<;eniii«l 



at the zinc pole, and hidroguretted at the copper pole. 



This consis- Seci^VU, In this theory of a chemical phenomenon 

 tent With the , . . - , , . , ^ «- . > i . i 



laws of che «very thing is conformable to that law of affinity, by which 



micalaffinity. 'th6 radius of its sphere of action never extends beyond the 

 distance of apparent contact. The effects of this at- 

 tractive power however tnay become serjsible at a distance, 

 whett it is transmitted by dissimilar particles; as the effects 

 of repu'lsiou may be by the tninsmission of the corpuscnlar 

 action by similar particles. Elastic bodies, that possess a 

 certain mobility analogous to that' of thfe particles of a 

 liquid, afford a striking example of a tratismitted motion, 

 transmiued which does not become sensible, till it has reached a certain 

 inoti->n ia me- distance from the point of its origin- If a hall of ivory, 

 chamcs. suspended by a thread, be let fall against a row of similar 



bdlls, suspended in the same manner, and in contact with 

 each other, the impulse given to the first will be immedi- 

 ately comipunicated to the second, from which it will be 

 transmitted to the third, and so on to the last ball ; which, 

 receiving the motion, and having nothing to communicate it 

 to, will fly off with a force equal to the primary impulse. 

 7 *ort slfij This well known law of mechanics may be happily applied 

 - ' b:9ibi<>} in all chemical phenomena, where the object is to explain a 

 ■ " ' force, the effect of which is become sensible at adifctonce. 

 theory of the Sect. VIII. The theory of the galvanic decomposition 

 precipiution of water, which I have just explained, is that of the preci- 



of one metal pj^ation of metals by One another. With regard to the 



»y another. ^ •'., ., ,tii'i- x 



revival of the first particles of the metal held iii soUilfon, 1 



shall offer but one remark in the ne?ct section, since Ber- 



thdllet and Vauquelin have klready treated the stlbj^ct' in 



•ueh a superior manner* : but from the facts and reasonings 



• Essay on Chemical Statics, to1.1I, p. 421 3 an4 Anuale?-de,Chip?Je, 



iven 



