THEORY OF GALVANISM. 



of electricity which was natural to them, adding a 

 portion of it to the one, and subtracting it from 

 the other respectively. To this power he gave the 

 title of electro-motion; and he spoke of it as a 

 new property, which had not been before noticed, 

 and distinctly claimed to himself the merit of its 

 discovery. He conceived that he might increase Forms the 

 the power of the instrument, or rather concentrate 

 the effect of a number of separate pairs of metal, 

 by interposing between each pair a conducting 

 substance, which, without altering the electric state 

 of the metals, might increase the effect by trans- 

 mitting it through a number of successive stages. 

 Whatever we may think of the hypothesis, the ex- 

 periment to which it gave rise was most fortunate; 

 for it led to the construction of the pile ; an appa- 

 ratus by means of which the most curious and im- 

 portant discoveries have been made in the different 

 departments of natural philosophy. 



Although Volta completed the discovery of the Did not no- 

 pile, and fully ascertained its action on the animal m i ca i ef- 

 body, yet it is not a little remarkable, that he fects * 

 limited his inquiries to this object, and seems to 

 have been totally ignorant of the farther powers of 

 the instrument of which he was possessed. This 

 circumstance must appear the more remarkable, 

 when we recollect that upon the very first em- 

 ployment of it by Nicholson and Carlisle, they 

 perceived its chemical action, and became aware of 

 its importance as an agent in the decomposition of 

 bodies. Cruickshanks, Davy, Wollaston, Henry, and 

 the other English philosophers, farther developed 



