THE 

 LONDON, EDINBURGH and DUBLIN 



PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE 



AND 



JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



[FOURTH SERIES.] 



FEBRUARY 1854. 



XII. On the Results of a series of Experiments on the Decom- 

 position of Water by the Galvanic Battery, ivith a view to obtain 

 a constant and brilliant Lime light. By the Rev. N. J. Gallant, 

 Pi-ofessor of Natural Philosophy in the Roman Catholic College, 

 Maynooth*. 



SOON after I had discovered the nitric acid cast-iron battery, 

 and before I had completed the large one which I made 

 for the College, I began to make experiments on the decompo- 

 sition of water with a view to obtain a lime light which might 

 answer for lighthouses. I soon succeeded in obtaining a steady 

 and brilliant light. In a paper on our new galvanic battery, 

 dated April 6, 1848, and published in the London Philosophical 

 Magazine of the following July, I stated that " I got the lime 

 light by igniting mixed gases as they were produced by the 

 decomposition of water and throwing the flame on lime." I 

 believe I was the first who obtained a constant lime light by 

 means of the galvanic battery. JMy experiments were frequently 

 interrupted on account of the state of my health. They were 

 at one time suspended for more than two years, and several 

 times for five or six months. The same cause which obhged me 

 to interrupt them now compels me to bring them to a close 

 before I could complete all the experiments I intended to make. 

 These ex))erimcnts have led to the following results : — First, a 

 new apparatus for applying with perfect safety the mixed gases, 

 oxygen and hydrogen, to the production of a flame of the 

 most intense heat, which, when thrown on lime, produces a 

 most dazzling light. Secondly, a new voltameter, to which a 

 common jet may be screwed, and the gases inflamed as they issue 

 * Communicated by the Author. 

 Phil. Mug. S. 4. Vol. 7. No. 43. Feb. 1854. G 



