514 On the Chetntcal Efficts of the Pile of Voha^ 



IX. 



On the Chemical EffeBs of the Pile ofVolta, By a Correfpondtnt. 

 LETTER II. 

 To Mr. NICHOLSON. 

 SIR, 



I 



HOPE I {hall not trefpafs too much on your time by infiding a little further on the 

 difficulty, which I took the liberty of fubmitting to you refpe£ling the decompofition of 

 water by the Pile of Volta, and which you honoured by inferting in your truly valuable 

 Journal. I am not at all difpofed to believe that chemical efFeds, dependant on each other, 

 fliould always take place clofe to each other; although I contend that we fliould be able to 

 afcertain the caufe which produces a deviation from local proximity. 



That forae diitance of time intervenes between chemical eftefts, fome experiments, in 

 which I have been engaged for a confiderable time, have fully convinced me. I have long 

 thought, that as Nature produces fome of her moft curious and perfect combinations by 

 very flov/ and regular procefles, that as (he deftroys her fmeft produdions when fhe operates 

 at high temperatures in volcanic countries, where every thing alike alTumes the forms of 

 cinders, aflies and lava, that the ufual modes of operating chemically are defeftive in as far 

 as we wifli, by the application of great degrees of heat and fudden ftrong attraftions by 

 mixture, to produce immediate refults in new combinations and new fubftances. I have 

 fucceeded in reverfing many acknowledged attraftions, by only giving time for the proper 

 arrangement of the particles. I fliall mention one decompofition which requires a very 

 confiderable time for its production. Why, if the attraflions tend one way, they do not 

 inftantly arrange themfelves, I cannot at prefent determine. Having found that a folution 

 of fulphuret of pot-aOi attrafts oxygen from the atmofphere, I thought it might be cm- 

 ployed for the decompofition of the caxbo.nic acid. With this view, I inclofed in a bottle 

 a quantity of carbonate of lime, and a ftrong folution of fulphuret of pot-alh. I fhook 

 them well together, but I did not obferve any change after a confiderable time. The- bot- 

 tle, however, remained in my room clofely flopped for fix months, when I obferved that 

 the fides of it were covered as high as the folution reached with a black powder, which had 

 the properties of charcoal. I could produce many other inftances to prove that combina- 

 tions will take place, as it were fpontaneoufly, if time be allowed for proper arrangement. 

 Organized fubftances in particular afford very ftriking inftances. Phofphorus, though fo 

 ftrongly attached to oxygen in animal fubftances, is neverthelefs frequently feparated by a 

 flow decompofition. 



In the experiment of the vegetations of a metal by means of ?inc, which you produce as 

 3 parallel fail to the decompofition of water from the pile, I find fome modes of reafoning 



which 



