298 On the Constitution of the Electric Fluid. 



tion of the zinc is that which decomposes the water*, and "is 

 simply employed in overcoming electrical powers in the body 

 (water) subject to its action :" "the quantity of electricity is de- 

 pendent upon the quantity of zinc oxidized t ; " and he conceives 

 '• that the quantity which passes is the equivalent of, and there- 

 fore equal to that of the particles separated; i. e. that if the 

 electrical power which holds the elements of a grain of water in 

 combination, or which makes a grain of oxygen and hydrogen 

 in the right proportions unite into water when they are made to 

 combine, could be thrown into a current, it would exactly equal 

 the current required for the separation of that grain of water 

 into its elements again." Elsewhere he says, "considering the 

 definite relations of electricity as developed in the preceding 

 parts of the present paper, the results prove that the quantity of 

 electricity, which, being naturally associated with the particles 

 of matter, gives them their combining power, is able when thrown 

 into a current to separate those particles from their state of com- 

 bination ; or in other words, that the electricity which decom- 

 poses, and that which is evolved by the decomposition of a cer- 

 tain quantity of matter, are alike." I must, however, observe, 

 that he has elsewhere made statements which have caused me 

 much embarrassment in my unsuccessful endeavours to reconcile 

 them : no doubt a fuller exposition on his part would have re- 

 moved all difficulties of this kind. As it is, I have no other 

 course left than to reason upon the different results which flow 

 from the passages above quoted, and are reiterated in other parts 

 of his Researches. 



Thus, in the decomposition of a grain of water, the electricity, 

 which being identical with affinity, had held the oxygen and 

 hydrogen in combination, is evolved; but it must have been 

 evolved by the power of an equal quantity of electricity produced 

 by the oxidation of the four grains of zinc, and acting as a cur- 

 rent through the water. If the decomposition had been effected, 

 as stated, by the equivalent of 210 millions of one-inch sparks, 

 we have 480 millions of such sparks to account for. Where is 

 this enormous quantity of electricity to be detected ? It cannot 

 in my experiment have escaped out of the glass vessel ; nor can 

 it have remained in the resulting gases as a part of their consti- 

 tution : it cannot have disappeared by neutralization of the two 

 states, positive and negative, of which it consists; for in that 

 case heat to an incredible amount must have been generated, the 

 result of such an union being, as Faraday admits, fire, i. e. light 

 and heat (868.). The amount of this heat may be judged from 

 the quantity of iron which two flashes of lightning would be 

 papable of melting or igniting, for such would be the equivalent 

 * Researches, par. 868, et alibi. t Ibid. i>19. 



