314 



CONSIDERATIONS ON ELECTRICITY 



tlie future lias more in store for ns than we have, by hazard, so to say, hitherto 

 found. The riddle is propounded; let ms earnestly seek its solution. This, 

 according to the fine expression of Pliny, is still hidden in the mysterious majesty 

 of nature. 



That the most mistalien views npon the subject of electricity are widely cur- 

 rent is scarcely a matter of doubt. The "natural-born" inventors are expressly 

 governed bj' the idea of constructing an electric l>attery which shall cost nothing. 

 This is with them a fixed idea, which can be shaken by no scientific discussion. 

 Yet what that is new and noteworthy has resulted from their attempts ? Noth- 

 ing worth speaking of. All improvements of electrical batteries which have really 

 been adopted into practice are but variations of the models furnished by Grove, 

 Bunsen, I3ecquerel, and Daniell. In every electrical battery we have to keep 

 in view the intensity of the development of electricity and its constancy. Ac- 

 cording to circumstances, one of these must be sacrificed to the other. If the 

 inventor aims to construct a battery which shall occasion the least possible 

 expense, he must of necessity occupy himself chiefly with the constancy ; since, 

 for a single element, the intensity of the current depends exclusively on the 

 electro-motive force of the electro-positive substance which is employed. In 

 this respect zinc, among all ordinary metals, occupies the first place. With the 

 alloys nothing has been attempted on account of the secondary phenomena which 

 here present themselves. It cannot, therefore, but be useful to give a compara- 

 tive statement of the electro-motive force of different metals in relation to zinc, 

 which always holds the first place, and is therefore marked as 100; especially 

 as so-called practical men seem to have little knowledge on the subject. This 

 comparison shows the energy of the principal solutions to which we can have 

 recourse in practice, upon the metals which industry has placed at our service. 



Thus it will be seen that the intensity of the cuiTent developed depends on 

 the chemical action exerted by the liquid on the metal : chlorine, for instance, 

 imparts to the copper and silver a considerable degree of electro-motive force. 

 If we would employ the alkalies as the operative liquid, the order of the electro- 

 motive forces would be different; foremost in this case would stand : potassium, 

 aluminum, zinc ; and then would follow : antimony, bismuth, and copper. It 

 has been sometimes proposed to make use of the sulphuric coml)inations as sources 

 of electro-motive force ; sulphuret of potassium would then be certainly the most 

 applicable, but practice has shown that with this no advantageous result has been 

 obtained. Inventors, who are choosing the solution for a superior battery of a 



