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XXIX. FiiriJier Experiments on wpeculiar Voltaic Condition 

 of Iron, Bj/ Professor SciiOY.iiBFAN of Bale; in a Letter to 

 Mr. Faraday. 



Dear Sir, 



SOME weeks ago I had an opportunity to send you a paper 

 " On a peculiar action of Iron upon some Salts," which 

 I hope will by this time have reached you. Having since 

 observed some new facts regarding the transference of the 

 active and inactive state of iron from wire to wire, facts which 

 I think to be of some importance to electro-chemical science, 

 I take the liberty to communicate them to you by writing. 



First Fact, — A and B p 



represent vessels contain- 

 ing nitric acid, sp. gr. 1*35, 

 and C P D a platina wire 

 connecting them. If the 

 oxidized end E, of an 

 iron wire E F, be put into A, and F afterwards into B, F be- 

 comes active, though a current passes from F through the acid 

 into D (the usual condition for calling forth the peculiar state). 

 Second Fact, — If C P D be a wire of a metal, which is acted 

 upon by the acid in A and B, — for instance, silver, copper, 

 iron, brass, &c., — the end F of the iron wire will turn inactive 

 on its being plunged into B, after the immersion of the ox- 

 idized end E in A. The same effect takes place if the middle 

 part of the connecting wire P consists of platina, and the 

 ends C and D of silver, copper, &c. 



Third Fact. — If C P D be an iron wire, its end D inactive, 

 C active, and the end E (not oxidized) first plunged into A, 

 and F afterwards into B, F becomes inactive, that is to say, as- 

 sumes the state of D. The inactive iron end D may be re- 

 placed by platina, and the active one C by any metal, which 

 is acted upon by the acid in A, without causing a change 

 of result by so doing. 



Fourth Fact, — If everything be precisely as in the forego- 

 ing case, but E oxidized and first put into A, F becomes like- 

 wise inactive on its being afterwards immersed in B. 



Fifth Fact. — If C P D be an iron wire, the end D inactive, 

 (made so not by heating, but by immersing it in strong 

 nitric acid,) and the end F put into B, and E afterwards into 

 A, not only E, but also D turns active. Whatever may be 

 the number of wires similar to C P D, all their inactive ends 

 in B turn active under the circumstances mentioned, though 

 these wires do not touch each other at any point. 



