18 REPORT— 1842. 



tide shall pass on to the next in the series, and so on throughout the length of the 

 bar, and shall not be enabled to return without the removal of the inducing force, 

 the elementary particles of such bar will be placed in a condition for exalting the 

 tension of each other from end to end (as is the case in the multiplication of pairs 

 of plates in a voltaic battery), and produce what may be termed " reciprocal polari- 

 zation." 



The particles of steel may be so separated by the carbon which it contains, and by 

 the process of hardening, as entirely to prevent the return of the fluid after polari- 

 zation has been effected ; and finally, if the force of each particle be doubled by the 

 reciprocal polarization of the one next in line, and this by the next, and so on 

 throughout the series, it may readily be conceived that a degree of tension would be 

 produced at each end of a bar magnet, which would be capable of inducing in a 

 piece of metal of a similar kind, the same condition at a considerable distance, and 

 develope indeed all the phamomena exhibited by this wonderful agency. 



On the Cause of Dissimilarity of the Voltaic and Ordinary Electricities. 

 By John Goodman. 



There had arisen on the part of Dr. Faraday and other eminent electricians, ob- 

 jections to the use of the guarded poles in decomposing water, described by Dr. 

 Wollaston as being unidentical with voltaic decomposition, but the poles made use 

 of in an apparatus constructed by Mr. Goodman were of fine platina wire completely 

 unguarded. Poles of this description, one-eighth or one-sixteenth of an inch in length, 

 had been frequently employed by the author, and had readily decomposed water by 

 the current alone from the electrical machine. 



Mr. Goodman then proceeded to point out his view of the cause of dissimilarity in 

 the two fluids, and in so doing adverted to the phenomena exhibited in the employ- 

 ment of the condensing electrometer. 



On electrolvzing the plate in communication with the gold leaves, the latter in- 

 stantly diverge, and exhibit considerable " tension." But on drawing near the 

 opposing uninsulated plate, a gradual collapse of the leaves is uniformly the result, 

 approaching each other as the plate advances, and when it has arrived at a given 

 distance, the leaves are found in perfect opposition. But on removing the same they 

 again diverge, and this process may be repeated many times under favorable circum- 

 stances. During the period when the leaves are apart, the electricity by which the 

 electrometer is charged is found to possess much " tension," that is (according to 

 the views of the author), powerful attractive and repulsive properties, and in conse- 

 quence much elasticity of character, great mechanical force, momentum, and capa- 

 bility of resisting atmospheric pressure, and considerable magnitude of spark, &c.&c; 

 but when the plates are in a given degree of apposition, all these properties disappear, 

 and are supplanted by others more resembling the character of the voltaic than ordi- 

 nary electricity. Its high tension is subdued, and the increased capacity of the plate 

 for a further supply of electricity of the same kind, evinces the disposition of the 

 fluijl to become more and more condensed, and assume that condition which may 

 with great propriety be termed " intensity." Hence we may infer, as stated by Dr. 

 Faraday, what " an enormous quantity of electricity is present in matter," the 

 atomic particles of the same being at all times subject to the polarizing influence of 

 each other, at atomic distances, and inducing thus an amazing capacity for, and con- 

 densation of fluid. It is not improbable that electricity in this condensed condition 

 occupies the interior of metallic bodies, that it is indeed the peculiar fluid of the 

 atomic particles of matter, and yet that of high tension resides on the mere surface of 

 metallic conductors. The cause then of dissimilarity in the two modifications is, 

 that in the one case (the voltaic) the elementary particles of all the matter, fluid and i 

 solid concerned in its production, are continually in contiguous relation to each other; 

 and in the other modification (the frictional) the two main antagonist or opposing 

 forces are removed and separated by the revolutions of the cylinder to a considerable 

 distance from each other. The positive fluid upon the surface of the cylinder is re- 

 moved completely out of the sphere of action of its opposing negative force, situate 

 in the rubber, and is afterwards subject only to polarizing influence from remote 

 bodies. Mr. Goodman exemplified this view of the subject by diagrams and fur- 

 ther explanations. 



