405 
2000 one-inch sparks were required to produce a deviation of 
forty degrees, while, in an experiment with a minute pair of 
zine and platinum plates, the zine not weighing more than the 
head of a pin, and probably not the thousandth part of a grain 
dissolved during the action of an acid on it, the needle, never- 
theless, whirled round the circle twice. Thus, a chemical ac- 
tion, almost inconceivably small, produced an effect eighteen 
times greater than 2000 sparks of electricity from a powerful 
plate-machine. The inference drawn was, that the agents 
could not be the same in both. 
In furtherance of the objects above detailed, Professor 
Faraday has made experiments to determine the quantity of 
___ electricity associated with the particles or atoms of matter; from 
____which it may be calculated, that to decompose a single grain 
weight of water, 800,000 discharges of an electric battery, each 
discharge consisting of 300 one-inch sparks, would be required ; 
which Faraday conceives is equal to a powerful flash of light- 
ning : and he estimates that the electricity, that is the affinity, 
which maintains the oxygen and hydrogen of the grain of water 
in combination, is of the same amount. Thus, according to 
_ hin, there is the electricity of a flash of lightning in every 
} grain or drop of water, that is, if the electricity of a drop of 
water could be collected in one spark, it would be 454545 
miles in length. 
But Faraday neglected to compare his results with those 
of MM. Paets Van Troostwick and Deiman, and also with 
_ those of Dr. Pearson. These philosophers, who made expe- 
_ riments with the greatest care, represent the matter very diffe- 
_ rently. Many calculations were entered into, which proved 
that, according to the experiments of the Dutch chemists, the 
_ quantity of electricity necessary to decompose a grain of water 
_ is thirty-eight times less than Faraday’s estimate, and, accord- 
ing to those of Pearson, forty-two times less. The vast diffe- 
~ rence of Faraday’s estimate leads to some suspicions of the uni- 
versality of the law as laid down by that philosopher, namely, 
‘ na 
a “pt 
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