294 VOLTAIC ELECTRICITY. SECT. XXIX. 



esis of one fluid be adopted, the zinc end of the bat- 

 tery may be supposed to have an excess of electricity, 

 and the copper end a deficiency. Hence, in the latter 

 case, the zinc is the positive end of the battery, and the 

 copper the negative. 



Voltaic electricity is distinguished by two marked 

 characters. Its intensity increases with the number of 

 plates its quantity with the extent of their surfaces. 

 The most intense concentration of force is displayed by 

 a numerous series of large plates, light and heat are 

 copiously evolved, and chemical decomposition is accom- 

 plished with extraordinary energy ; whereas the elec- 

 tricity from one pair of plates, whatever their size may 

 be, is so feeble that it gives no sign either of attraction 

 or repulsion ; and, even with a battery consisting of a 

 very great number of plates, it is difficult to render the 

 mutual attraction of its two wires sensible, though of 

 opposite electricities. 



The action of Voltaic electricity differs in some re- 

 spects materially from that of the ordinary kind. When 

 a quantity of common electricity is accumulated, the 

 restoration of equilibrium is attended by an instantaneous 

 violent explosion, accompanied by the development of 

 light, heat, and sound. The concentrated power of the 

 fluid forces its way through every obstacle, disrupting 

 and destroying the cohesion of the particles of the bodies 

 through which it passes, and occasionally increasing its 

 destructive effects by the conversion of fluids into steam 

 from the intensity of the momentary heat, as when 

 trees are torn to pieces by a stroke of lightning. Even 

 the vivid light which marks the path of the electric fluid 

 is probably owing in part to the sudden compression of 

 the air and other particles of matter during the rapidity 

 of its passage, or to the violent and abrupt reunion of 

 the two fluids. But the instant equilibrium is restored 

 by this energetic action the whole is a-t an end. On the 

 contrary, when an accumulation takes place in a Voltaic 

 battery, equilibrium is restored the moment the circuit 

 is completed. But so far is the electric stream from 

 being exhausted, that it continues to flow silently and 

 invisibly in an uninterrupted current supplied by a per- 

 petual reproduction. And although its action on bodies 



