224 Oil some Chemical Agencies of Electricity/. 



tionof power, in all cases of combustion. In general, when 

 the different energies are strong and in perfect equilibrium, 

 the combination ought to be quick, the heat and light in- 

 tense, and the new compound in a neutral state. This would 

 seem to be the case in the instance just quoted ; and in the 

 circumstances of the union of the strong alkalies and acids, 

 But where one energv is feeble and the other strong, all 

 the effects must be less vivid ; and the compound, instead 

 of being neutral, ought to exhibit the excess of the stronger 

 enera,y. 



This last idea is confirmed by all the experiments which I 

 have been able to make on the energies of the saline com- 

 pounds with regard to the metals. Nitrate and sulphate of 

 potash, muriate of lime, oxyinuriate of potash, though re- 

 peatedly touched upon a large surface by plates of copper 

 and zinc, gave no electrical charge to them ; subcarbonate 

 of soda and borax, on the contrary, gave a slight negative 

 charge, and alum and superphosphate of lime a feeble posi- 

 tive charge. 



Should this principle on further inquiry be found to apply 

 generally, the degree of the electrical energies of bodies, 

 ascertained by means of senfible instruments, will afford new 

 and useful indications of their composition. 



IX. On the Mode of yjc/ion on the Pile of' Folia, loith expe- 

 rimental Elucidations. 



The great tendency of the attraction of the different che- 

 mical agents, by the positive and negative surfaces in the 

 Voltaic apparatus, seems to be to restore the electrical equi- 

 librium. In a Voltaic battery, composed of copper, zinc, 

 and solution of muriate of socki, all circulation of the elec- 

 tricity ceases, the equilibrium is rcstortd if copper be brought 

 in contact with the zinc on both sides : and oxygen and 

 acids, which are attracted by the positively electrified zinc, 

 exert similar agencies to the copper, but probably in a 

 slighter degree, and being capable of combination with the 

 njctal, fhey produce a momentary equilibrium only. 



The electrical energies of the metals with regard to each 

 other, or the substances dissolved in the water, in the Vol- 

 taic 



