142 Dr. C. F. Schoenbein on some 



ture of that force which causes what we call chemical actions, 

 and we are far from being acquainted with all the circum- 

 stances and conditions which bodies must be placed in, in 

 order to make them affect each other chemically. On ac- 

 count of that very ignorance of ours, it appears to me to be 

 no hazardous or inadmissible conjecture if we suppose the 

 possibility of certain compounds and single bodies acting che- 

 mically upon each other only when arranged together in a 

 particular manner as to their juxta-position. Peroxide of 

 lead, aqueous nitric acid, and platina are bodies which, under 

 ordinary circumstances, are perfectly indifferent to each other ; 

 but you have no sooner arranged them into what we term a 

 voltaic circle, than the peroxide is decomposed, nitrate of 

 lead produced, and water electrolyzed ; diat is to say, the hy- 

 drogen of the latter compound caused to act upon the surplus 

 oxygen of the peroxide: chlorine, water, and platina on one 

 side; zinc, acidulated water, and platina on the other, are 

 similarly circumstanced, no chemical reaction taking place 

 between them unless put together so as to form a circle. I 

 know well enough that the phaenomena in question are inter- 

 preted by the voltaists in favour of the fundamental principle 

 of their theory, and that the chemical actions just spoken of 

 are considered by many philosophers as effects of a current 

 produced by mere contact. But there are many facts known 

 in our days which, in my humble opinion at least, cannot be 

 reconciled with the theory alluded to, and which prove that a 

 current excited within an hydro-electric arrangement is en- 

 tirely dependent upon the chemical action taking place there. 

 I consider as one of these facts the relation which exists be- 

 tween the passage of a current through an electrolyte, and 

 the decomposition of the latter. Dr. Faraday's beautiful re- 

 searches have thrown a strong light on the mutual depend- 

 ence of the two phaenomena ; that celebrated philosopher does 

 however maintain that feeble currents can pass through elec- 

 trolytic bodies without causing decomposition. I ascertained 

 some time ago the important fact, that electrolyzation and the 

 passing of a current are so absolutely dependent on each 

 other, that not even the weakest current can go through any 

 electrolyte without decomposing the latter*. Now, if such 

 be the case, are we not allowed to conclude, at least to con- 



* I perceive from No. 20 of the Comptcs Rendus, that Mr. W. R. 

 Grove has made a communication to the French Academy, in which there 

 is stated the same fact with regard to water. In giving it, as a novel one, 

 Mr. Grove was most likely not aware of what I publisiied six months ago 

 in the Sibliotheque Univ. No. 3.5, p. 189, and in the Lond. ^ Edin. Phil. 

 Mag. No. 85, p. 45. 



