222 On some Chemical Jt^^encle^ of Electricity. 



wiihoiit difficulty, and they might be applied to ali cases of 

 chemical action ; but in the present state of the inquiry, a 

 great csicusionot" ihii hypoihelical part, of the subject would 

 be premauire. 



The general idea wil', however, afford an easy explanation 

 of thic influence of affinily by the massirs of the actmg sub- 

 Stan es, as tlucidatcd by the experinsenis of M. Ber'hollet ; 

 for the coinbined ctFcct oF many particles pos^c-.-'sing a feeble 

 electrical eneriiVj niay be conceived equal or even superior to 

 the etrecl ot a few particles possts>inq: a strong electrical 

 energy: and the iacts mentioned, page !08, confirm the sup- 

 position: for concentrated alkaline lixivia resist the trans- 

 mission of acids by electricity nmch more powerfully than 

 weak ones. 



Allowing combination to depend upon the balance of the 

 natural electrical energies of bodies, it is easy to conceive 

 that a measure may be found of the artificial energies, as to 

 infensity and quantity produced in the common electrica! 

 machine, or the Voltaic apparatus, capable of destroying 

 this equilibrium ; and such a measure would enable us to 

 make a sca'e of electrica! powers corresponding to degrees of 

 affinity. 



In the circuit of the Voltaic apparatus, completed by 

 metallic wires and water, the strength of the opposite elec- 

 tricities diminish from the points of contact of the wires 

 towards the middle point in the water, which is necessarily 

 neutral. In a body of water of considerable length it pro- 

 bably would not be difficult to assign the places in which 

 the different neutral compounds yielded to, or resisted, de- 

 composition. Sulphate of baryles, in all cases that I tried, 

 required immediate contact with the wire : solution of sul- 

 phate of potash exhibited no marks of decomposition with 

 the power of : 50, when connected in a circuit of water tL^n 

 inches in length, at four inches from the positive point ; but 

 when placed within two inches, its alkali was slov/ly repel- 

 led and its acid attracted*. 



V/henever 



* Ir. this pxnrinicnr, the v.nter wss eor.ta'nod in a circular pl:r,s bason two 

 iTiChcs deep, ihe cojnamr.icatiun wa;: made l^y piscri of xraiinthusof about 



