92 On the Mature and Properties of Albumen ^ Sfc. 



mechanical power of sncli currents, excited in liquid con- 

 ductors by the passage of electricity, out of the positive tube ; 

 and hence by diminishing ihe tension of the electricity deve- 

 loped (as in my experiments), such transfers may be pre- 

 vented and the coagulated albumen constantly collected in 

 the positive cup. 



24. I was next desirous to examine the effects of electric 

 currents on an alkaline albuminate. In this combination the 

 albumen acts as a tolerably energetic electro-negative element, 

 and might consequently be expected to be coagulated at the 

 positive electrode. To determine this, some albuminate of 

 soda was prepared as perfectly neutral as possible (2.), diluted 

 with water, and placed in two glass cups communicating by a 

 bent tube filled with the same fluid ; the cups were connected 

 with the battery ofSO pairs of plates (16.) by means of platinum 

 wires: a copious and rapid coagulation ensued in the positive 

 cup as was expected. In this case the deposition of albumen 

 can very fairly be attributed to the action of the electric cur- 

 rent ; for being combined with a cation (soda) it must neces- 

 sarily act as an a?iiofi, and hence like all anions be deposited 

 at the positive electrode {anode), A very weak current, as 

 that afforded by 5 or 6 pairs of plates, is sufficient to produce 

 this effect. When copper wire is substituted for platina in 

 the formation of the electrodes, the decomposition takes place 

 with equal rapidity, the albumen being deposited round the 

 positive wire in the form of fine almost diaphanous tubes 

 (more resembling organized membrane than anything else), 

 which drop from the wire almost as soon as formed, and are 

 nearly, if not quite free from copper ; affording a striking con- 

 trast to the irregular, massive, green, precipitation of albumen 

 ad/ie7'i?ig to the copper electrode when uncombined albumen 

 is the subject of experiment. 



25. Electrolytic action did not yield equally satisfactory re- 

 sults when combinations of albumen with acids were employed, 

 for the evolution of chlorine (which it is next to impossible to 

 avoid) almost always caused the precipitation of albumen in 

 the positive cup ; and although I sometimes succeeded in caus- 

 ing the albumen to coagulate in the negative cup, yet it was 

 never sufliciently constant to authorize any opinion on the 

 basic nature of albumen. Subsequently, however, I succeeded 

 in obtaining more satisfactory results, by avoiding the influence 

 of chlorine on albumen in the positive cup : for this purpose 

 I took two glass cups connected by filaments of cotton moist- 

 ened with brine, and filled one v;ith water (containing just 

 enough common salt to render it sufficiently conducting), which 

 1 connected by a platinum wire with the positive, the other 



