12 On some Clmnkal Agencies of Eledridly. 



time neither oF the portions of the water altered in the 

 shghtesl degree the tint ot" htnius. 



It seems evident then, tliat water, chemically pure, is de- 

 composed bv electricitv into gaseous matter alone, into ox- 

 Vgen and hydrogen. 



The cause of its decomposition, and of the other decom- 

 positions which have been mentioned, will be hereafter dis- 

 cussed. 



III. On the Jgenc'ies of Electricity in the Decomposition of 

 various Compounds. 



The experiments that have been detailed on the produc- 

 tion of alkali from glass, and on the decomposition of va- 

 rious saline compounds contained in anin)al and vegetable 

 subotanccs, offered some curious objects of inquiry. 



It was evident that in all changes in which acid and alka- 

 line matter had been present, the acid matter collected in the 

 water round the positively electrified metallic surface, and 

 the alkaline matter round the negatively electrified metallic 

 surface J and this principle of action appeared immediately 

 related to one of the first phaenomcna observed in the Vol- 

 taic pile — the decomposition of the muriate of soda attached 

 to the pasteboard ; and to many facts which have been since 

 observed on the separation of the constituent parts of neu- 

 trosaline and metallic solutions, particularly those detailed 

 by Meiers. Hisinger and Berzelius*. 



The first experiments that I made immediately with re- 

 spect to this subject were on the decomposition of solid 

 bodies, insoluble, or difficultly soluble in water. From the 

 effects of the electrical agency on glass, I expected that va- 

 rious earthy compounds would undergo change under si- 

 niilar circumstance.; and the results of the trials were de- 

 cided and satisfactory. 



Two cups made of compact sulphate of lime, containing 

 about 14 grain measures of water each, were connected to- 

 gether by fibrous sulphate of lime, which was moistened by 

 pure water: the cups were filled with this fluid; platina 

 wires from the Voltaic battery of 100 pairs of pktes of six 



• Annalcs de Chintie, torn. li. p. 167. 



Inches 



