CHEMICAL HISTORY OF A CANDLE 135 



I have here two pieces of platinum, and if I lay them 

 down upon this piece of paper [the moistened paper on the 

 tin-foil] you will see no action ; and if I take them up there 

 is no change that you can see, but the arrangement remains 

 just as it was before. But now see what happens: if I 

 take these two poles and put either one or the other of them 

 down separately on the platinum plates, they do nothing for 

 me; both are perfectly without action; but if I let them 

 both be in contact at the same moment, see what happens 

 [a brown spot appeared under each pole of the battery]. 

 Look here at the effect that takes place, and see how I have 

 pulled something apart from the white something brown; 

 and I have no doubt, if I were to arrange it thus, and 

 were to put one of the poles to the tin-foil on the other 

 side of the paper why, I get such a beautiful action upon 

 the paper that I am going to see whether I can not write 

 with it a telegram, if you please. [The lecturer here 

 traced the word "juvenile" on the paper with one of 

 the terminal wires.] See there how beautifully we can 

 get our results. 



You see we have here drawn something which we have not 

 known about before out of this solution. Let us now take 

 that flask from Mr. Anderson's hands, and see what we 

 can draw out of that. This, you know, is a liquid which 

 we have just made up from copper and nitric acid while our 

 other experiments were in hand; and though I am making 

 this experiment very hastily, and may bungle a little, yet I 

 prefer to let you see what I do rather than prepare it 

 beforehand. 



Now see what happens. These two platinum plates are the 

 two ends (or I will make them so immediately) of this 

 apparatus; and I am about to put them in contact with that 

 solution, just as we did a moment ago on the paper. It does 

 not matter to us whether the solution be on the paper or 

 whether it be in the jar, so long as we bring the ends of 

 the apparatus to it. If I put the two platinums in by them- 

 selves they come out as clean and as white as they go in 

 [inserting them into the fluid without connecting them with 

 the battery] ; but when we take the power and lay that on 

 [the platinums were connected with the battery and again 



