B6 Mr. C. Binks on Electricity, 



engaged in the operation ; provided that if one surface only 

 of zinc be so employed, it be that surface which is directly 

 opposite to the copper. It has been determined that the con- 

 trary surface of the zinc serves merely to increase the inten- 

 sity of action, that is, the quantity in a given time, and in no 

 respect to influence the required area of the copper plate, 

 that being determined solely by the area of that surface of the 

 zinc plate which is opposite to it. These phaenomena are 

 more fully entered upon in a subsequent stage of the experi- 

 ments in this paper; but it is proper to remark here, that the 

 relative proportions of the two plates may be determined un- 

 der either of the above conditions, either when both surfaces 

 of the generating plate or when only one is employed ; esta- 

 blishing in the former case a ratio of 1 to 16, and in the latter 

 of 1 to 32; but as the latter is the ultimate condition of the 

 experiment, it is that which, in a theoretical point of view, 

 will be considered the more important. 



8. Besides some important theoretical considerations which 

 attach to these results, they were immediately serviceable in 

 reconciling the conflicting statements which had previously 

 prevailed respecting the best relative proportions of the two 

 metals; and in showing how, at the will of the inventor, any 

 voltaic battery could be brought to exercise a maximum ef- 

 fect, though different in degree, by having either the zinc or 

 copper plates the larger of the two throughout the series ; and 

 also (wherever the same elements are employed) in showing, 

 numerically, the comparative amount of action which can be 

 obtained under any conditions whatever of the proportions of 

 the two metals, and of the strength of the exciting acid. 



9. The correctness of these former experiments, so far as 

 they were then carried, is now abundantly confirmed by other 

 experiments differently conducted ; and their results will be 

 found ultimately to be deducible from a general law, which 

 will be endeavoured to be established towards the conclusion 

 of this paper. 



10. The particular laws formerly arrived at were obtained 

 equally for compound as for single arrangements, and for 

 acid solutions of every strength, or for every degree of activity 

 of the generating agents. But they were sought for under 

 one condition only as regarded the distance of the elementary 

 plates from one another. It was then distinctly slated *, that 

 to preserve uniformity in this respect, the plates were main- 

 tained exactly one inch apart throughout the whole inquiry ; 

 so that any modification of the results of experiments that 



* Page 71, Phil. Mag., July, 1837. 



