Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 469 
extended study has convinced him of their use. He states that 
a battery with electrodes of lead has 23 times the electromotive 
force of one with electrodes of platinized platinum, and six times as 
great as that of one with ordinary platinum. This great power arises 
from the powerful affinity which peroxide of lead has for hydrogen, 
a fact first noticed by De la Rive. ‘he secondary battery which he 
recommends has the following construction. It consists of nine 
elements, presenting a total surface of ten square metres. Each 
element is formed of two large lead plates, rolled into a spiral 
and separated by coarse cloth, and immersed in water acidulated 
with one-tenth sulphuric acid. ‘he kind of current used to excite 
this battery depends on the manner in which the secondary couples 
are arranged. If they are arranged so as to give three elements of 
triple surface, five small Bunsen’s cells, the zincs of which are im- 
mersed to a depth of seven centimetres, are sufficient to give, after a 
few minutes’ action, a spark of extraordinary intensity when the 
current is closed. The apparatus plays, in fact, just the part of a 
condenser ; for by its means the work performed by the battery, after 
the lapse of a certain time, may be collected in an instant. An idea 
of the intensity of the charge will be obtained by remembering that 
to produce a similar effect it would be necessary to arrange 300 
Bunsen’s elements of the ordinary size (13 centimetres in height), 
so as to form four or five elements of 3} square metres of surface, 
or three elements of still greater surface. If the secondary battery 
be arranged for intensity, the principal battery should be formed 
of a number of elements sufficient to overcome the inverse electro- 
motive force developed. For nine secondary elements about fifteen 
Bunsen’s cells should be taken, which might, however, be very small. 
From the malleability of the metal of which it is formed, this battery 
_is readily constructed; by taking the plates of lead sufficiently thin, 
a large surface may be placed in a small space. The nine elements 
used by Planté are placed in a box 36 centimetres square, filled with 
liquid once for all, and placed in closed jars; they may also be kept 
charged in a physical cabinet, and ready to be used whenever it is 
desired to procure, by means of a weak battery, powerful discharges 
of dynamic electricity.—Comptes Rendus, March 26, 1860. 
NOTE ON THE USE OF SULPHATE OF LEAD IN VOLTAIC COUPLES. 
M. Edm. Becquerel describes a modification of the sulphate of 
lead battery invented by his father, M. Becquerel. 
Sulphate of lead has the property, when it is made into a paste 
with a saturated solution of chloride of sodium, of becoming hard 
and compact ; other chlorides exert a similar action. Cylinders may 
be moulded of this paste, if a rod of copper, lead, tiu-plate, or 
even of gas-coke be placed in the centre. These cylinders, when dry, 
are permeable to a liquid conductor in which they are placed, and in 
contact with zinc form a constant current. Plates may also be 
formed of this substance ; and when placed at the bottom of a vessel 
resting on a conducting support of copper, lead, or tin-plate, a piece 
of zine being suspended above them, and the vessel filled with aci- 
Phil. Mag. 8. 4. Vol. 19. No, 129. June 1860. ye | 
