of Electricity in Voltaic Combinations. 



285 



the element which has been added is either more or less po- 

 sitive than either of the original elements, so that, under such 

 circumstances, the material molecules will be instantly sub- 

 jected to new attractions, the less positive molecule quitting 

 that for which its attraction was not so strong, and uniting 

 with the other for which it has a greater attraction ; — that in 

 proportion to the comparative specific gravities of gases, li- 

 quids, and solids, so are the quantities of electricity combined 

 with them, — that element of the gases having the least specific 

 gravity being the most positive, and that having the greatest 

 least so*, and in like manner with liquids and solids; — that 

 heat is merely a property of electricity, becoming sensible in 

 chemical decompositions and combinations, by its disengage- 

 ment in large quantity and the difficulty of restoring the equili- 

 brium ; and this it is which causes a platina wire to become 

 red hot when the electric current is sent through a reduced 

 and different conducting medium. Thus, if we revert to the 

 action of the battery in the precipitation of the sulphate of 

 copper, a new attraction being brought into play, more power- 

 ful than that of the oxide for the acid, that union is dissolved, 

 and the metallic molecules being brought into a state of aggre- 

 gation, do not in their new state attract the same proportions 

 of electricity; the consequence is that a large quantity, like 

 latent heat in cases of condensation, and, indeed, identical 

 with it, is disengaged, and goes to supply the loss of electri- 

 city in the circuit. 



I believe light, as well as heat, to be a property of electri- 

 city, else, how account for its existence in its purest form in 

 vacuo, where electricity is the only agent? But I shall refer 

 to these subjects again and at greater length when I have more 

 leisure than I have at present, merely adding that I do not be- 

 lieve my views to be irreconcilable with Mossotti's theory, and 



* As an example, I give a list of a few of the metals, in which I institute 

 a comparison between their specific gravities, their atomic numbers, and 

 their electrical states. 



