1826.] . Hoy al Society. '' §5 



changed, or one or more parts of a compound circuit abstracted./ 

 Many curious phsenomena, of which hitherto no explanation has 

 been offered, may be explained by this view of the subject; 

 such as the secondary piles of M. Ritter, — the supposed polariza- 

 tion of electricity, concluded by M. de la Rive from his experi- 

 ments on the interposition of metallic plates in the fluids of a 

 pile, — and the continuance of electro-motive action of detached 

 portions of a circuit, after the destruction of the circuit itself. This 

 re-action is illustrated in the present paper by an experiment, 

 in which a circuit primarily inactive, consisting of six arcs of 

 platinum in vessels filled with solution of nitre, was made part 

 of a battery consisting of 50 pairs of plates of a combination 

 primarily active. After continuing the circuit some time, it was 

 broken, and the platinum arcs, detached and formed into a 

 circuit, were found to possess independent action, contrary to 

 that of the pile, which had thus rendered them re-active. 



This singular consequence is pursued yet further in another 

 experiment here stated, in which detached portions of a battery 

 of 50 plates which had been some time in action, were examined 

 as separate piles, after breaking up the combination. When 

 they had been placed conformably in the original battery, their 

 independent action was found to be very much weakened by the 

 re-action thus produced, which in this case opposed their natural 

 effect; whereas, when unconformahly placed in the original 

 battery, their action when detached was found exalted to three 

 or four times its natural intensity. 



The author next proceeds to point out some general observa- 

 tions and practical applications which suggest themselves on a 

 view of the foregoing results. The chemical changes in a con- 

 ducting liquid, he first shows, take place only in the immediate 

 vicinity of the immersed poles, the rest of the liquid affording 

 only a tranquil passage to the electricity. This leads him to 

 consider the motions produced in mercury when interposed in 

 the circuit under an electrified fluid, which he regards as arising; 

 from the two electricities, acting as transporters of ponderable 

 matters which assume their own peculiar characters when they 

 reach their point of rest. The lecture concludes with some 

 suggestions as to the use of the multiplier to obtain exact nume- 

 rical measures of the electro-dynamic relations of chemical 

 elements ; and with some applications of the preceding results to 

 the useful arts, especially in the preservation of the copper on 

 ships, and of the iron boilers of steam-engines. 



A paper was also read. On the Discordances between the 

 Sun's observed and computed Right Ascensions as determined 

 at the Blackman-street Observatory ; by James South, Esq. 

 FRS. 



June 15.— Sir G. Nayler, Knt. Garter King at Arms, was 

 Net^.Smes, VOL. XII. f 



