Co'J On some Chemicut Amende > of Electr'icili/, 



the neutral salts in diftcrcnt cases may admit of ceconomlcal 

 uses. Well barncd charcoal and plumbago, or charcoal and 

 iron, might he made the exciting powers ; and such an ar- 

 rangement if erected upon an extensive scale, neutrosaline 

 matter being employed in every series, would, there is every 

 reason to believe, produce large quantities of acids and al- 

 kalies with very little trouble or expense. 



Ammonia and acids capable of decomposition, undergo 

 chemical change in the Voltaic circuit only when they are 

 in very concentrated solution, and in other eases are merely 

 carried to their particular points of rest. This fact may in- 

 duce us to hope that the new mode of analysis may lead us 

 to the discovery of the true elements of bodies, if the mate- 

 rials acted on be employed in a certain state of concentra- 

 tion, and the electricity be sufiiclently exalted. For if che- 

 mical union be of the nature which I have ventured to sup- 

 pose, however strong the natural electrical energies of the 

 elements of bodies may be, vet there is every probability of a 

 limit to their strength : whereas the powers of our artificial 

 instruments seem capable of indefinite increase. 



Alterations of electrical equilibrium are continually taking 

 place in nature ; and it is probable that this influence, in its 

 faculties of decomposition and transference, considerably 

 interferes with the chemical alterations occurring in different 

 parts of our system. 



The electrical appearances which precede earthquakes and 

 volcanic eruptions, and which have been described by the 

 greater iKunber of observers of these awful events, admit 

 of very easy explanation on the principles that have been 

 stated. 



Besides the cases of sudden and violent change, there 

 must be constant and tranquil alterations in «hich electri- 

 city is concerned, produced in various parts of the interior 

 strata of our globe. 



Where pyritous strata and L^trata of coal-blende occur, 

 where the pure metals or the sulphurets are found in contact 

 with each other, or any conducting substances, and where 

 different strata contain different saline menstrua, electricity 

 imist be continually manifested^ and it is very probable, that 



many 



