PROCEEDINGS 



OP 



THE LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL 

 SOCIETY. 



Ordinary Meeting, October 2nd, 1860. 

 Dr. Joule, President, in the Chair. 

 The President brought under the notice of the meeting a 

 sheet of copper, upon which, whilst under magnetic influence, 

 iron had been deposited electrolytically. The experiment was 

 made by Mr. F. H. Hobler, of London, as follows : — The 

 plate of copper, forming the bottom of a shallow vessel filled 

 with a saturated solution of sulphate of iron, was placed on 

 the poles of a powerful horse-shoe magnet, fixed vertically 

 with its poles uppermost. An iron wire, dipping into the 

 solution, was placed in connection with the positive electrode 

 of a Daniell's cell, of one pint capacity, the copper plate 

 being connected with the negative electrode. The deposited 

 iron exhibited the lines of magnetic force in the same manner 

 as in the case of iron filings scattered on a sheet of paper 

 placed over a magnet. When Mr. Hobler substituted a plate 

 of tinned iron for the copper, he observed indications, though 

 very faint ones, of the same phenomenon. On using a satu- 

 rated solution of sulphate of copper, Mr. Hobler observed 

 that the deposit was even throughout, and that no specific 

 position of the axes of the crystals of copper could be detected, 

 although they invariably formed on the outside of the two 

 poles. Mr. Hobler, in discussing the phenomenon, inquires 

 whether it is produced by the action of the magnet upon the 

 solution in direction of the lines of force, or whether the iron 

 is formed in the solution immediately above the copper plate, 

 and then attracted by the magnet into the direction of the 

 lines of force. The former suggestion appears to him to be 

 inconsistent with our present knowledge of the influence of 

 Proceedings— Lit. & Phil. Society— No. 1.— Session, 1860-61. 



