Fttlm'ifwtlng MircuTj. 2%^ 



ftantiy after the deflagration, iuppnfecl to he a portion of the 

 xvater converted into (team bv the intenfe heat. 



One circiiniliance is extreuielv worthy of remark. The 

 fliocks from this pile, thonoh in a (t;ue to produce fiicU 

 powerful eti'ec^xs ou the metals, could be taken with very, 

 little inconvenience. 



Dr. Van iMaruni and profefi'or Pfafi", of Keil, have latelv 

 been cngaircd in a feries of experiments with the Voltaic pile, 

 by means of which thev are (iated to have charged an eler- 

 trical batterv of 140 fquare feet of Surface by mere contact 

 with the pile. The account that has reached us does not 

 liate whether the battery received as full a charge as could 

 have been conmiunicatcd by an electrical machine, or onlv 

 iiich a one as to become feniible to au electrometer. If the 

 latter, the quantitv of furface named tends to miflead, for a. 

 (ingle jar mioht have <rivcn lire fame indication; but if 140 

 fquare feet received a full chartrc, the experiment will prove a 

 niofl inlerefting one. The fame account Uates, that, " by the 

 elcilr'icily of this apparatus, (aamelv, the Voltaic pile,) thcv 

 fufed J 2 inches of iron wire: even platina wire was fufcd bv 

 it," If we uiiderftand the language here ufcd, it means tliai 

 the wire was fufed, not through the medium of an eleftricat 

 batterv chareed bv means of the pile, though the introduction 

 of the word eUtlncity may lecni, at fird vjew, to convey thai, 

 idea, but bv beinsi brought dircAly into the Voltaic circuit. 

 If we are riaht in this opinion, it was, properly fpeakiuEf, a 

 dcfla'iration and not a nierefulJun of the wire that took place; 

 I. e. the metal was wholly, or in a gre'.t n>eafure, oxided, in- 

 ftead of being altered in form only, as is the cafe in fimple 

 ftifion : if fo, it was an experiment of the fame nature as thole 

 related above, in which feveral fquare inches of gold and filver 

 leaf, &c. were deflagrated. The detail of Dr. Van Maruni and 

 profeilijT Pfart's experiments, which thefe gentlemen have 

 promifed to publifli in a liiort time, will, however, foou clear- 

 up the ambiguities of the (liort account that has reached us. 



FULMINATING MEIICURV. 



The effcAs of an accidental cxplofion of a quantity of the 

 fulminating mercury of Mr. iJoward, which was experi- 

 enced at Dr. Pcarfon's laboratory, while at leiture, a few 

 days ago, leein to be AifKciently remarkable to be worthy 

 «)f being recorded, and may pollibly throw fome ligb.t on the 

 agency of this powder, and indicate foine ufeful applications 

 in prartice. 



The powder juft collected trom the fd tering paper, nn 

 which it lodged after the lifjuid from which it was precipi 

 3 taied 



