122 QUARTERLY JOURNAL. 



the drouth when the battery was applied, and no effect is seen ia 

 to be expected. 



From the remarkably changeable temperature of the season. 

 varying frequently from sixteen to thirty degrees in twenty-fouiiji 

 hours, I was sanguine in the expectation of an unusual quantiljil 11 

 of thermo-electricity, developed in the eastern atmospheric cur-tW 

 rent, and I have not been disappointed; but how ihe galvanui'.k 

 plates have failed I am at a loss to conjecture. 



This battery was settled precisely under the most recent methoc,!"' 

 and authority ; the plates of copper and zinc each four feet long i 

 and fourteen inches wide, were connected by a copper wire tre 

 bled and twisted, to ensure a full capacity for transmission, and al 

 buried. 



Within the range were planted forty grains of corn ; as yet non ' ',1 

 of the plants evince any effect, except those nearly in contact ^vit 

 the connecting wire and with the flutes of the lattery ; and thost 

 as you have seen, are palpably injured in growth and appearanc( 

 compared with other portions ; possibly from an excess of the t/fc 

 trie aura, collected and accumulated by the long continued drouth 

 or waves of the free electric fluid — the all pervading ocean — co. , 

 lected by the battery, and insulated and condensed by the excef; 

 sive aridity of the intermediate earth — by which the antagoniiiL 

 forces were held in suspense; thereby exerting an undue energy 

 upon the insulating walls and the immediately adjacent bodin 

 v'lthin their sphere ; analogous to the case of antagonist electric 

 ties, hovering in proximity in the clouds and earth, without powi 

 to overcome the resistance of the dry atmosphere between theu 

 and quiet the disturbed excitement. 



I have another battery, planted a few days ago, embracing soir 

 tobacco plants and potatoes, and on a plan by which I may pn 

 bably unite the forces of the ihermo and hydro electric current 

 with which I hope to be more successful, unless the diouth be r 

 peated, and the caloric s^lspended — improbable events we wouli 

 hope. 



Finally indeed, I may emphatically say — I offer for your ii, 

 spection some ammonia which, I obtained from rain water, aftt. 

 the late long continued drouth, when much of this article so essei, 

 tial to vegetation is necessarily accumuhited. You will j*ercei^j 

 that ihis ammonia retains the offtnsive odour derived from its p'l 



