394 THEORY OF GALVANIC, 



form of radiant heat, as in ordinary combustion ; 

 in short, that caloric is evolved during nearly all 

 rapid chemical combinations. By following up 

 the experiments of Sir H. Davy, Dr. Faraday 

 has shown, that when chlorides, iodides, fluor- 

 ides, oxides, cyanides, nitrate of potass, chlorate 

 of potass, sulphate of soda, and various other 

 compounds were fused by heat, and interposed 

 between the plates of copper and platinum of 

 a voltaic battery, electricity was evolved as when 

 acids were employed ; and in some cases much 

 more freely. He adds, " there are hundreds of 

 bodies which evolve electricity in the same man- 

 ner, when in a state of fusion ; but that when 

 they became solid, the decomposition and the 

 electric currents ceased." He thinks that soli- 

 dification prevents decomposition, &c. " merely 

 by chaining the particles to their places, under 

 the influence of aggregation." (Experimental 

 Researches in Electricity, 4th Series.) Had this 

 distinguished experimenter recognized the agent 

 by which particles are aggregated and chained 

 together, he would have found that it is the alpha 

 and omega of chemical action, without which 

 there could be no voltaic electricity, and that 

 it is the source of all electro-chemical combina- 

 tions and decompositions. 



But there are certain minute philosophers, 

 who maintain that the slightest difference be- 

 tween any two agents destroys their identity. 



