concerned in the Phanomena of ordinm^ Electricity, ^'c. 133 



a wire was gently pressed upon the paper, the other end was 

 held in the hand, and the cylinder was made to revolve. In a 

 few moments alkali made its appearance under the wire, and 

 rendered the paper brown. Is not the operation of negative 

 electricity here excluded ? is not the alkali detached by positive 

 electricity ? and is not the alkali found in a situation the oppo- 

 site of that which is indicated by the law of voltaic decomposition? 



Faraday's peculiar views relative to the current lead him to 

 believe that positive and negative electi'icity are always coexistent 

 and inseparable in it : hence the law of voltaic decomposition is 

 conceived differently by him ; and the evolution of alkali at the 

 positive pole, and of acid at the negative, is not an ivreconcileable 

 result, although such a distribution is contrary to that acknow- 

 ledged by Davy, Berzelius, and all the original experimenters on 

 this subject. If Faraday's view be correct, and if the electricity 

 at both poles of a voltaic series be the same, viz. consisting of 

 both positive and negative electricity, it is difficult to assign a 

 cause for the separate appearance of the two classes of bodies at 

 their respective poles ; it is difficult also to understand why, in 

 Faraday's experiments, alkali or acid should have been developed 

 at all : if they were separated from their combination, they 

 should have appeared together in the same spot of the paper, 

 and no change of colour should have ensued. More of this 

 hereafter. 



With regard to voltaic electricity, he describes an elegantly 

 executed experiment* in which it was proved that decomposition 

 can be effected by the voltaic series when one of the poles is in 

 contact with the saline solution to be decomposed, and the other 

 with water lying as a stratum over the saline solution ; thus in- 

 tending to demonstrate that the separation and collection of the 

 elements roimd the poles are not attributable to any attractive 

 power of the polar wires or other conductors. But this experi- 

 ment does not obviate the objections which I have made against 

 the alleged proofs of the identity of frictional and voltaic elec- 

 tricity, inasmuch as two effective poles were really in operation, 

 although one of them acted through a quantity of water, while 

 the other acted directly ; the water was virtually the pole ; or if 

 not, the virtue of the polar wire was exerted through it. 



The final inference to be drawn from all the experiments is, 

 that to produce voltaic decompositions, the two different kinds 

 or states of electricity must be in operation mediately or imme- 

 diately. In all the experiments ever made there is not, within 

 my knowledge, one which dispenses with this condition ; while 

 it appears that, in the case of common electricity, one kind or 

 state is sufficient. The experiments in question cannot therefore 

 be admitted as proofs of identity, although they may of difference. 

 * Researches, par. 494. 



