| 
Experiments with the Elementary Voltaic Battery. 41 
Muriatic acid 1 water 74 permanent deflection, 177° 
6c 1 3# “cc 74 
Nitric acid 1 water 60 ie es 84 
73 ae | 73 30 “ «c 127 
73 ae | 6c 15 rT “c 174 
6c “oY ‘cc 74 ‘é 6c 295 
“c ce 1 “ 3? “c ‘c 467 
14. We now used solutions, which were composed of 3% parts 
of water and 1 part of a mixture of two of the above acids in equal 
proportions. The observations were the following, 
Sulphuric and nitric 
° 
seid “ttiortes i water, 3$ permanent deflection, 380 
Nitric and muriatic ae ad és 260° 
acid, do. bi oe 
Sulphuric and muri- «ec ‘6 ‘“ 
atic acid, do. ‘ : 3% a, 
The three acids in 1 « 38 a « 200° 
the same proportion, 
From these experiments, it will be seen that the increase of effect 
is greatly in favor of that acid solution which is known to be the 
most powerful in its chemical action on the copper, viz. the nitric 
acid ; a similar increase of effect we found to belong to this acid, 
when we resorted to those copper plates, which had been treated 
with hot acid, as described in the experiments on character of sur- 
face. 
The experiments thus detailed, might, under some circumstances, 
give rise to new generalizations respecting the developement of Vol- 
taic Electricity ; but as we are rather interested in hehalf of the con- 
viction, that accurate and definite records of phenomena, are still 
wanting on this subject, a conviction, which to us appears to be 
happily spreading among those devoted to the advancement of sci- 
ence, we are disposed, for the present, to leave them as recorded. 
We may be permitted, before closing this paper, to state, that 
while engaged in the foregoing experiments, our attention was par- 
ticularly directed to a notice contained in the last No. of your Jour- 
nal, of some experiments made by the Abbé S. Dal Negro; from 
which he deduces the law that the effects of the voltaic element, are 
in the ratio of the perimeters of the plates ; and in order to deter- 
mine, for ourselves, the correctness of this inference, we made some 
experiments, from which, we have — the following. 
Vol. XX VIJI.—No. 1. 
