Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 235 



their distribution, and their mode of grouping. He thus deduced 

 from them important consequences respecting the interior mechan- 

 ism of the pile, and the manner in which electricity distributes itself 

 in it. {Bibl. Univ. vol. Ivi. p. 150.) 



" Whilst studying the electro-chemical appearances, in reference to 

 the light which they might throw upon everything connected with 

 the electric current, M. Nobili did not neglect to consider them 

 independently, and with a view to the applications to the arts which 

 they might present. He has described in a long memoir {Bibl. 

 Univ. \6\. xliv. p. 337, and vol. xlv. p. 35,) the series of processes 

 by which he succeeded in constructing, by means of the electro- 

 chemical appearances, a chromatic scale which presents every de- 

 gree and all the different blendings of colours; this essay also con- 

 tains many ingenious views respecting the theory of colours in ge- 

 neral*. We cannot terminate what we have to say concerning this 

 part of M. Nobili's researches, without again insisting on the beauty 

 and variety of the colours which are obtained by the method which 

 he has devised ; we will add, that their permanency appears to us 

 truly remarkable, and we do not doubt that sooner or later art will 

 possess itself of the process, and derive great advantages from it. 

 As to the cause of the phasnomenon of the electro-chemical appear- 

 ances, the learned Italian has scarcely occupied himself with the 

 question j but it appears to us beyond doubt, that they are owing to 

 a very strongly adherent deposition formed on the metallic plates, 

 by excessively thin films of the substances decomposed by the electric 

 current: this point, however, merits investigation. 



" The analysis of the electro-physiological effects, obtained when a 

 frog forms part of the circuit, and of the consequences in relation to 

 animal electricity which may be drawn from them, was the object of 

 laborious researches on the part of M. Nobili. {Bibl. Univ. vol. xliv. 

 pp. 48 and 165,) He had already shown in a preceding essay, enti- 

 tled ' Comparison between the two most sensible Galvanometers, the 

 Frog, and the Multiplier with two needles,' (Bibl. Univ. vol. xxxvii. 

 p. 10,) that the frog may give rise, by itself and without any exter- 

 nal agent, to an electrical currentf ; he had studied the direction of 

 this current, and the circumstances which modify its direction and 

 its intensity. But in the memoir which we have first quoted, he 

 had deeply studied the phasnomena which result from the combined 

 action of the current of the frog and the external currents, and he 

 had arrived at remarkable results respecting the influence of the di- 

 rection of these last currents, in reference to the effects upon the 

 animal economy which result from them. He lately returned again 

 to this subject, (Bibl. Univ. vol. xlvii. p. 174,) less for the purpose 

 of adding new facts to it, than to combat M. Marianini, who was 

 also engaged in this question, but who had arrived at entirely dif- 

 ferent results. We confess that we do not conceive why such di- 



• A translation of M. Nobili's Memoir here noticed, will be found in 

 the Scientific Memoirs, Part I., published on the 1st of August. — Edit. 



t Had not this been shown long ago, quite early in the history o£Vg}^ 

 taic electricity ?— Edit. 



2D3 



