GALVANISM. 249 



•which was ascertained to be the effect of galvanic action, 

 and not from the electricity of the atmosphere. 



This first experiment was repeated and varied in differ- The same re- 

 ent ways. Blotting paper was substituted instead of the *^ 

 pieces of card to the number of four for each, and there 

 was no effect produced. Discs of card, dried in the oven 

 were used, and the mean term of attraction in several 

 experiments was 372 degrees. With the same pieces 

 and twenty-five pair of discs only, the attraction 

 was 160. The experiment was afterwards made with a 

 column, having the same number of pairs of metallic discs 

 but without the interposition of any pieces of card. In 

 these circumstances no effect was produced. 



These first results would have been sufficient for the So- Question how 

 ciety to confirm the fact announced by M. Marechaux, far they may 

 and which was intended to be verified ; but this galvanic P*^®^^ ^^^ 

 action of the pendulous column was not proved, but by 

 the help of an instrument of very great sensibility, and 

 with regard to quantities scarcely to be estimated. It 

 remains therefore for the Society to ascertain the advan- 

 tage which it is possible to derive for the progress of gal- 

 vanism, by means of a discovery so important, by em- 

 ploying more powerful modes of action, and by compar- 

 ing them with the effects obtained from piles excited by 

 humidity or by saline solutions. The class of the Society 

 w hich is employed on physical researches,has been charged 

 to direct its investigations. » 



II. A notice appeared in the Moniteur of the 22nd of Pile of vcgeta- 

 Brumaire last, that Dr. Joseph Baronio of Milan, had pub. ble matter only, 

 lished a description of a galvanic pile, formed of vegetable 

 matters only, with an invitation to philosophers to 

 repeat and vary his experiments, flattering himself that 

 they would serve to extend the application of the theory 

 of galvanism to the whole of vegetable life. The Gal- 

 vanic Society was called upon to answer th^s observation 

 of Pr. Baronio*. 



a leaf of gold, suspended to a vertical stem of brass, is attracted 

 towards another stem of the same metal, terminating in a ball, whea 

 these two stems are in communication with the two poles of the pile. 

 Each degree of this measure answers to the eighteen thousandth of 

 an inch. 



* Annales dc Chimie, Jsp. i8o6. 



A pile 



