156 TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY OF PHYSICS AND 



ardeut cbampious, deuyiug that the contact of two different substances 

 could alone produce a disengagement of electricity without chemical 

 calorific or mechanical action. To-day, when the dynamic theory of 

 heat is universally adopted, this question in all its important points 

 may be considered as resolved in favor of the view De la Rive sought to 

 maintain. The motive force in the galvanic pile is incontestably the 

 chemical action, and the sum of the work produced under various forms 

 in the circuit is equivalent to the total amount of heat which this chem- 

 ical action can disengage. If the contact of the metals, or of the metals 

 and the liquids, has some influence — a fact still disputed — this acts as a 

 mechanism for transformation of the force, but is incapable of creating 

 the force itself." 



" De la Rive reviewed his investigations and views in regard to this 

 branch of science in the Traite cTUlectricite, theorique et appliqiiee, which 

 he published both in English and French from 1853 to 1858. This ad- 

 mirable work did not end his productive labors in this direction, and 

 among the researches undertaken since that time w^e may mention his 

 experiments upon the sounds produced by the combined action of cur- 

 rents and magnets, his investigations in regard to the magnetic-rotatory 

 polarization, and his works upon the passage of currents through rare- 

 fied gas. The latter led to his theory of the aurora borealis, which, when 

 he announced it, was coolly received ; but every day gains new par- 

 tisans." 



The researches upon electricity of our learned member seemed rather 

 theoretical than practical ; but we know that the most varied applica- 

 tions, and often the most important, may unexpectedly proceed from the 

 most abstract scientific principle. De la Rive invented incidentally, 

 while engaged in bis investigations, the application of the galvanic pile 

 to electrical gilding. He received for this the sum of 3,000 francs from 

 the Academy of Sciences of Paris, and with the revenue of this amount, 

 which he gave to the Society of Arts of Geneva, a prize is offered every 

 five years for the scientific discovery most useful to Genevese industry. 



For some years the memoirs of Auguste de la Rive upon electricity, 

 and those sent him upon the same subject, were so numerous as to 

 necessitate the appropriation of an entire journal to them alone. The 

 Archives des sciences physiques et natureUes supplied this need. This pub- 

 lication, which constituted the scientific part of the Bibliothcque univer- 

 selle, was for a time, as well as the latter journal, immediately dependent 

 upon De la Rive, but he always endeavored to include the assistance of 

 his friends in its preparation. It is evident from the number of articles 

 upon all branches of science, that he never interfered with the freedom 

 or direction of thought. On the contrary, he was glad to collect good 

 observations upon all subjects. His great intellectual capacity, as broad 

 as it was deep, readily accepted ideas the most varied in character, in 

 the moral and political, as well as in the physical and natural sciences, 

 while he still retained unimpaired interest in the especial object of his 



