SECT, xxix.] VOLTAIC ELECTRICITY. 335 



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 occasion- 

 ally 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 at 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 perpetual reproduction. And, although 

 its action on bodies is neither so sudden nor so intense as 

 that of common electricity, yet it acquires such power from 

 constant accumulation and continued action, that it ulti- 

 mately surpasses the energy of the other. The two kinds of 

 electricity differ in no circumstance more than in the de- 

 velopment of heat. Instead of a momentary evolution, which 

 seems to arise from a forcible compression of the particles of 

 matter during the passage of the common electric fluid, the 

 circulation of the Voltaic electricity is accompanied by a con- 

 tinued development of heat, lasting as long as the circuit is 

 complete, without producing either light or sound ; and this 

 appears to be its immediate direct effect, independent of me- 

 chanical action. Its intensity from a very powerful battery 

 is greater than that of any heat that can be obtained by arti- 

 ficial means, so that it fuses substances which resist the action 

 of the most powerful furnaces. The temperature of every 

 part of a Voltaic battery itself is raised during its activity. 

 When the battery is powerful, the luminous effects of Vol- 

 taic electricity are very brilliant. But considerable intensity 



