441 



VOLTAIRE, FRANCOIS-MARIE. 



VOLTAIRE, FRANgOIS-MARIE. 



442 



developed a small quantity of the electrical fluid, which, bfiing trans- 

 mitted through the organs of the frog, produced the convulsive move- 

 ments. These discoveries Volta communicated to the Royal Society 

 of London in two letters addressed to Mr. Cavallo, which were pub- 

 lished in the 'Philosophical Transactions' for 1793; and in the 

 following year he had the honour of receiving the Copley medal, in 

 gold, which was awarded to him by the society. In the first letter it 

 is stated that when different metals are placed near each other, with a 

 saline liquid between them, there is produced a disturbance of elec- 

 trical equilibrium, one metal giving a portion of its natural electricity 

 to the other, so that the latter becomes positively and the former 

 negatively electrical ; the use of the liquid being to transfer the elec- 

 tricity from one metal to the other. But in the second letter Volta 

 states that he considers all conductors of electricity to be divided into 

 two classes, one dry and the other moist; and he assumes that 

 electricity is excited when two conductors of either of these classes 

 are in contact with one of the other class : an idea apparently at 

 variance with that of the supposed actions of unlike metals on one 

 another. 



Repeated experiments, followed up during seven years, led Volta at 

 length to the invention of what is designated an electrical battery : it 

 consisted of a series of cups disposed in the circumference of a circle ; 

 each cup contained a saline liquid, in which were placed, on their 

 edges, a plate of zinc and one of silver ; and the upper edge of the 

 silver plate in each cup was connected by a wire with that of the zinc 

 plate in the next. This apparatus, which was called a ' corona,' was 

 superseded by one formed on the same principle with respect to the 

 alternations of metal plates, which is called the Galvanic or Voltaic 

 pile. Volta's account of his researches concerning the development of 

 electricity by the pile was sent to the Royal Society in the year 1800 ; 

 but, in consequence of the war between Great Britain and France, one 

 portion of the account could not be sent till some months after the 

 first had been received ; and in the interval the pile was constructed, 

 and many experiments were made with it in this country. The 

 paper appeared however in the ' Philosophical Transactions ' for that 

 year (vol. xc.), in the form of two letters addressed to Sir Joseph 

 Banks. 



It is remarkable that Volta, during the remainder of his life, con- 

 fined his experiments with the pile to such as concern its action on 

 the animal body, and he does not appear to have made any use of it 

 as an instrument of chemical analysis; even the decomposition of 

 water by it was first effected by Messrs. Nicholson and Carlisle. He 

 always maintained the opinion that an electrical process took place in 

 the pile, and that a chemical action was merely incidental ; while the 

 English experimentalists in general considered the latter as essential 

 to the production of the effects, and to arise from the oxidation of the 

 metals by the saline liquid : .they found that the pile does not act 

 when pure water is interposed between the plates, and that its action 

 ceases when the apparatus does not continue to receive a supply of 

 oxygen. The latest researches have shown that the effects of the pile 

 are partly electrical and electro-magnetical, and partly chemical : to 

 the former class are referred muscular contractions and the deviations 

 of magnetised needles ; and to the latter the decompositions of material 

 substances. It may be observed here, that Volta supposed the heart 

 and the other involuntary muscles to be incapable of being excited by 

 galvanic action an opinion which has been found to be erroneous. 



By the faculty of skilfully combining experiments, and a profound 

 sagacity in perceiving the consequences which might be deduced from 

 them, Volta was enabled to make many important discoveries ; but it 

 is remarkable that he often held unfounded opinions of the causes of 

 the phenomena, and he does not appear to have pursued any of his 

 researches so far as to arrive at mathematical precision in his results. 

 Thus he erroneously ascribed the properties of his electrophorus and 

 condenser to the effects of an electrical atmosphere which he supposed 

 to exist about the surfaces of bodies ; and he deceived himself in con- 

 sidering his electrometer to be capable of measuring with accuracy the 

 intensity of electricity in bodies ; when, for this purpose, it was in 

 reality far inferior to the torsion balance of Coulomb. By a series of 

 experiments he succeeded in discovering the influence of conductor 

 on the preservation and transmission of electricity ; but it was reserved 

 for the last-mentioned philosopher to determine by experiment and 

 by mathematical analysis the exact laws of the dissipation of electricity 

 from bodies in contact with air, its density in spheres of different 

 magnitudes, and also at different parts of an imperfectly insulating 

 body, and the influence of points in facilitating its transmission. An 

 inattention to accuracy of investigation is considered as the cause that 

 Volta lost the opportunity of discovering the true cause of the de- 

 velopment of electricity in the evaporation of water, which is the 

 most important circumstance in the electrical phenomena of the 

 atmosphere. 



A collection of the works of Volta, dedicated to Ferdinand III., 

 grand-duke of Tuscany, was published, in 1816, at Florence, under the 

 title, ' Collezione delle Opere,' &c., in 5 vols. 8vo. 



VOLTAIRE, FRANCOIS-MARIE AROUET DE, was born at 

 Chatenay, near Sccaux, on the 20th of February 1694. His baptism 

 was deferred to the 22nd of November in the same year, on account 

 of his feeble health. His father Franois Arouet was Tre"sorier de la 

 Chambre des Comptes, and his mother Marguerite Daumart belonged 



;o a noble family of Poitou. Voltaire was the. younger of two sons. 

 He was educated at the college of Louis le Grand, then under the 

 direction of the Jesuits. His character must have already developed 

 itself, if the story is true that Father Lejay, one of his instructors, 

 3redicted that he would be the Coryphaeus of deism in France. On 

 "eaving college he was introduced by his godfather, the Abbe" Chdteau- 

 neuf, to Ninon de 1'Enclos, who was much pleased with hia lively 

 manners, and bequeathed him a legacy of two thousand francs for the 

 purchase of books. The abbe* also introduced him to that brilliant 

 society in Paris, consisting of the Due de Sully, the prince of Conti, the 

 jrand-prior of Vendome, the abbe* de Chaulieu and others, whose con- 

 versation confirmed the youth in those loose principles which he had 

 already imbibed. But he was not entirely engrossed by the pleasures 

 of Paris ; he had already sketched his tragedy of ' ffidipe,' and in 1712 

 be was an unsuccessful candidate for a poetical prize which was 

 awarded by the French Academy. In order to detach him from the 

 society of Paris, his father sent Voltaire, in 1713, with the marquis de 

 Chdteauneuf, who was ambassador in Holland. Here he fell in love 

 with a daughter of Madame Dunoyer, an intriguing woman, who had 

 left France for Holland to escape from her husband, and had embraced 

 the Protestant religion. It is not clearly stated why the mother dis- 

 approved of the mutual affection of her daughter and Voltaire, but 

 she complained to the ambassador, and printed the correspondence of 

 the two lovers. Voltaire was sent back to France, and with difficulty 

 reconciled to his father, who complained of the libertinism of his 

 younger son as much as of the Jansenist opinions of the elder. 



Voltaire was now placed with a procure*ur, but the practice of the 

 law was intolerable to a man of his tastes and temperament, and he 

 soon left it. A friend of the family, M. de Caumartin, obtained his 

 father's consent to take Voltaire with him to Saint-Ange. Here he met 

 with the father of M. de Caumartin, who had been familiar with the 

 court of Henri IV. and the distinguished persons of that king's reign. 

 Voltaire was delighted with his anecdotes and conversation, out of 

 which grew the idea of the ' Henriade.' He returned to Paris with his 

 project of an epic poem, and his next step was into the Bastille. 

 Louis XIV. had just died, and his memory was attacked by numerous 

 satirical verses. Voltaire, who was then twenty-two years of age, was 

 well enough known to be suspected as the author of some of these 

 verses, and without further evidence he was imprisoned. In his con- 

 finement he sketched his poem of the ' Henriade,' under the title 

 of ' La Ligue,' and completed his tragedy of ' ffidipe.' He was soon 

 released by the Regent Duke of Orleans, who was satisfied of his 

 innocence. It is said that about this time he took the name of 

 Voltaire. The tragedy of ' (Edipe ' was played in 1718, and was suc- 

 cessful, but the author was first compelled by the judgment of the 

 actors to insert a frigid love episode in the ' OEdipe/ in compliance 

 with the taste of the times. In this, his earliest work that is worthy 

 of his reputation, Voltaire commenced that war against the priesthood 

 which he maintained with unabating perseverance to his dying day. 

 The two following verses have been quoted as the manifestation of 

 that hostility to the ministers of religion which became his ruling 

 passion : 



" Nos pretres ne sont pas cc qu'un vain peuple pense, 

 Notre credulite fait tout leur science." 



In 1721 Voltaire accompanied Madame de Rupelmonde to Holland, 

 and on the way visited Jean Baptiste Rousseau, who was then at Brus- 

 sels. Voltaire took the opinion of Rousseau on his poem of the 

 ' Ligue,' and read to him the ' Epitre k Uranie.' Rousseau re-paid the 

 compliment by reciting his ' Ode to Posterity,' which Voltaire told 

 him would never reach its address. The story may not be true, but 

 it is at least characteristic of Voltaire. They parted bitter enemies ; 

 and from that time Voltaire was the object of Rousseau's implacable 

 hatred. 



In 1724 the play of 'Mariamne' appeared, and shortly after the 

 ' Henriade,' under the title of ' La Ligue,' but without the author's 

 consent. The poem had been read by Voltaire to his friends, in order 

 to have the benefit of their criticism, and an imperfect copy of it had 

 been surreptitiously obtained by the Abbe" Desfontaines, and printed 

 with some additional verses. The author however could not obtain 

 permission to print it himself, for there were various passages which 

 gave offence to the priesthood. This is the statement in the ' Bio- 

 graphie Universelle,' but it is said in Marmontel's preface to the 

 ' Henriade,' that the first edition of it was printed at London in 1723, 

 and that as Voltaire could not see it through the press, it ia full of 

 blunders and transpositions, and also contains considerable blanks 

 (lacunes). It is not suggested that this edition was surreptitious, 

 though it may have been. 



A personal adventure, the particulars of which are unimportant in 

 a general sketch like this, led to a quarrel with his friend the Due de 

 Sully, and shortly after to a second visit to the Bastille, where 

 Voltaire was confined some months. On being released, he was 

 ordered to leave the country, and he came to England, where he 

 found a state of opinion more congenial to his own than in France. 

 The writings of Woolston, Tindal, Collins, and others of the same 

 class, were then in vogue ; freethiuking opinions were generally 

 diffused ; and besides this, the discoveries of Newton and the philo- 

 sophy of Locke had given an impulse to men's minds in England, 



