GAS VOLTAIC BATTERY. 253 



fact two voltaic pairs are constituted. The reaction being 

 exhausted, a new polarisation commences, to be added in its 

 turn to the initial current; and the reason why we get the 

 increased work at the voltameter is, that while the polarisa- 

 tion is proceeding at a c, water is decomposed in the volta- 

 meter ; and although this may be somewhat less than the 

 battery would produce without the interposed plates a c, still 

 this deficiency is more than made up by the action of the 

 double pair at each alternation of the wires. If the view I 

 have taken be correct, as reaction can never be greater than 

 the action which occasions it, we should never get, in Experi- 

 ment 3, beyond the quantity of gas given by two pairs of 

 the battery d b, but we may indefinitely approach that 

 maximum. 



A commutator might be easily arranged instead of the 

 hand for effecting the alternation at the proper periods, which, 

 by a little contrivance, may be made to work by the battery 

 itself, but I prefer stating the experiment in its most simple 

 form, and free from mechanical complication. 



Although the experiment as here described is merely in 

 illustration of a principle, it appears to me to promise re- 

 sults of some practical value. The economy of this method of 

 applying force is evident : we get all but a double product with 

 a single consumption. The principle in all probability is not 

 confined to the voltaic force, but may perhaps be applied to 

 mechanics. 



ON THE GAS VOLTAIC BATTERY. 



Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. Received March 27. Read 

 May n, 1843. 



IN the 'Philosophical Magazine' for December 1842 I have 

 published an account of a voltaic battery in which the active 

 ingredients were gases, and by which the decomposition of 

 water was effected by means of its composition. 



The battery described in that paper consisted of a series 



