38 Mr. R. Phillips on Frictional Electricity. 



Let now hydrochloric acid be submitted to electrolysis, as can 

 easily be done by electrolysing its aqueous solution. A line of 

 particles of hydrochloric acid extended between platinum elec- 

 trodes may be represented by _ ; and in order 



that the current may pass, the particle situated at the anode 

 must receive plus electricity, and that of the cathode, minus 

 electricity. On throwing one quantity of plus electricity into a 



molecule of hydrochloric acid, it becomes « _ ; and on adding 



another of these quantities, it becomes ; and on adding 



two quantities of negative electricity to a molecule of hydro- 

 chloric acid, it becomes _ . If now the particle of chlorine 



which has become -| , and consequently neutral and uncom- 



bincd, escapes, together with the hydrogen developed on the 

 other pole, and if we then consider the intermediate particles 

 of hydrogen and chlorine as shifting in the way usually supposed, 



the series t[tt'.--.t becomes _ ftt'.t + '~- 

 Thus this theory readily applies to electrolysis, and therefore 

 generally to all electro-chemical phenomena. Further, at one 

 period of the electrolysis, a particle of either gas really has, or 

 in some way approaches to, 0-— or 0.+ ; and this may be the 

 condition of the nascent state, and is intermediate between the 

 combined and free condition of a particle. 



The electro-motive force which combining particles possess, 

 must depend on the persistence with which the electric form 



is retained as compared with _ ' . This electro-motive 



force, and consequently that of chemical affinity, varies exces- 

 sively, and is sometimes so feeble as to be controlled by simple 

 pneumatic pressure, of which the decomposition of the carbonate 

 of lime by heat, and of steam by red-hot iron, are sufficient 

 examples. And since pneumatic pressure can be measured by 

 cohesion, it follows that cohesion is quite comparable, and in 

 many instances, probably at least equal in intensity with that of 

 chemical force. Cohesion and chemical force are each also 

 molecular forces capable of producing the aggregation of par- 

 ticles — and many other resemblances could no doubt be pointed 

 out. It may therefore perhaps be fairly inferred, that the co- 

 hesion of liquids or solids produces some modification of the 

 molecular electricity differing from the arrangement of the electri- 

 city in gases. I must, however, go a step further, and assume that 

 this peculiar distribution of the electric force generates cohesion. 



