Oa seme Chemical Agencies of Elecinclfif. 231 



was made the medium oF conncctiun ia the battery, its ex- 

 tremities being in contact uiih pure water ; the process was 

 carried on for 10 minutes: potash and Hme were Found ia 

 the negatively electrllied wa'.er, and acid matter in the po- 

 sitively electrified water, which occasioned a precipitate in 

 solutions of muri:;te of barytes, nitrate of silver, and muri- 

 ate of lime. This plant recovered after the process : but a 

 similar one, that had been electrllied for four hours with like 

 results, faded and died'"'. The facts shovv- that the electrical 

 powers of decomposition act even upoii living vegetable 

 matter J and there are some phcenomena which seem to 

 prove that they operate likewise u|)on living animal systems. 

 When the finders, after havintj; been careiuilv washed with 

 pure water, are brought in contact with this, hiii;! in 

 the positive part of the circuit, acid matter is rapidly deve- 

 loped, having the characters of a niixture of nuiriaiic, phos- 

 phoric, and sulphuric acids : and if a similar trial be made 

 in the negative part, fixed alkaline matter is as quickly ex- 

 hibited. 



The acid and alkaline tastes produced upon the tongue, in 

 Galvanic experiiTients, seem to depend upon the decompo- 

 sition of the saline matter contained in the living animal sub- 

 stance, and perhaps in the saliva. 



As acid and alkaline substances are capable of being sepa- 

 rated from their combinations in living systems by electrical 

 powers, there is every reason to believe that by converse 

 methods they may be likewise introduced into the aniujal 

 CEConomy, or made to pass throui^h the animal organs ; and 

 the same thing may he supposed of metaHlc oxides ; nnd 

 these ideas ought to lead to some new investigations in me- 

 dicine and physiology. 



It is not improbable that the electrical decomposition of 



* Seeds, I find, wlien placed iti pure water in the positive part of the cir- 

 cuit, g;ernunate much moio r;ip'i(ily th;\n under common circur:ist..-.n:cs ; but 

 in tlic iK'ijativepart of thcoirruil they do not g-crmi.i«t« at a!l. V/ifhout sup» 

 posing any peculiar clFccu from the dilFerent electricities which Jiowever may 

 operate, the phainomcnoii may be accounted for trcm the saturation of th.e 

 water near the po-,iiivt metallic '..urface with o%y^cu, and u'i that n';.ir the ne- 

 gative surfac^ with hyJrogiin. 



' ' ; • -' P 4 the 



