On some Chemical Agencies of Electricity. 1 i 5 



energy, in their repellent and attractive functions seem to 

 be governed by laws the same as the common laws of elec- 

 trical attraction and repulsion ; the body posaessina; the 

 positive energy being repelled by positively electrified sur- 

 faces, and attracted by negatively electrical surfaces ; and 

 the body possessing the negative energy following the con- 

 trary order. 



I have made a number of experiments with the view of 

 elucidating this idea, and of extendnig its application; and 

 in all cases thev have tended to conilini the analogy in a re- 

 markable manner. 



Well burned charcoal water and nitric acid, the same sub- 

 stance water and solution of soda, made respectively ele- 

 ments of difterent electrical combinations, bec.ime distinctly 

 active when twenty alternations were put together ; tlie po- 

 sitive energy being exhibited on the side of the alkali, and 

 the negative on that of the acid. Arrangements of plates 

 of zinc, pieces of moistened pasteboard, and moistened 

 quicklime, to the number of forty series, likewise formed 

 a weak electrical pi'e, the effect of the liuie being snnilar to 

 that of an alkali, but the power was soon lost. 



I endeavoured, by means of very delicate instrument?, to 

 ascertain the electrical states of single insulated acid and al- 

 kaline solutions, after their contact with metals ; and for 

 this purpose I employed at different times the condensing 

 electrometer of Mr. Cuthbertson's construction, Mr. Ca- 

 valio's multiplier, and a very sensible electrical balance, on 

 tlie principle of torsion, adopted by M. Coulom.b : but the 

 effects were unsatisfactory ; the circumstances of evapora- 

 tion and of chemical action, and li.e adiierence of the solu- 

 tions to the surfaces of the metaJs emploved, in mos-t cases 

 |)revented any distinct result, or rendered the source oi the 

 electricity doubtful. I shall not enter into any details of 

 these processes, or attempt to draw conclusion'^, from capri- 

 cious and uncertain appearances, which, as we shall mnnc- 

 diately see, may be fully deduced from clear and distinct 

 ones. 



The alkaline and acid substances capable of existing in 



the dry and solid form, give by contact with the melais ex- 



II 2 cccduigly 



