Galvanic Society, Paris. IS'f 



perfect conductors, and into uni-polar and bi-polar bodies, 

 according as their conduclibie property manifests itseltvat 

 both, or only at one oi' the ertreanities of the pile. f 



The theory of the decomposition of water by means of tlie 

 apparatus of V"olta has commanded the particular atteTntioii 

 of the society. 



One of the honorary members, M. Chompre, produced 

 this decomposition in a very strong glass tube full of water 

 and hermetically sealed, by means of a brass cap screwed on 

 with leather between the joints. The result of his cxperi- 

 njents was, that the Galvanic action takes place as well in 

 the closed tube as in an open one, or one only partly filled 

 with water ; but that in the first, the water, in order to make 

 Toom for the bubbles of the gas produced by decomposition, 

 penetrates through the pores of the brass or greased leather 

 which serve to close the tube, and makes its appearance in 

 spite of every obstacle. 



The reported formation of muriatic acid by the decompo- 

 sition of water presented a new problem for the, solution of 

 the society ; and numerous experiments have been made i«i 

 order to ascertain the facts annomiced by M. Pacchiani. 

 The results, however, have not yet been similar to his ; but 

 the society is still occupied in pursuing the same experi- 

 ments. 



M. Marum produced the decomposition of water by means 

 of the grand electrical machine in the Teylerian museum.: 

 the two wires of platlna employed in the experiment pro- 

 duced the liberation of a mixture of oxvgcn and hydrogen 

 gases; and he was not able to obtain them separate, as he 

 did with the pile. 



Gautherot, whose loss every naturalist deplores, was the 

 first who suggested the idea of accumulating the Galvanic 

 fluid, and preserving it in apparatus where it was not spon- 

 taneously produced. Ik- accomplished this by a method at 

 once simple and ingenious. 



" If we place," says he, "in a bottle of salt water, closed 

 with a linen stopper, the,extren)ities of two wires of platina, 

 which traverse this same stopper without touchimi; one an- 

 other; and if we make the outward extremities of these two 



wires 



