396 VOLTAIC ELECTRICITY. 



seconds, passed through water without heating 

 it like electricity and that when it was made to 

 strike upon the finger, it produced little or no 

 sensation of heat, but that of a sharp cutting 

 instrument. 



Analogies between Voltaic Action , and Subter- 

 ranean Chemical Forces. 



FROM a general view of the foregoing facts and 

 observations, it would appear, that the galvanic 

 or voltaic pile affords a miniature representa- 

 tion of nearly all the chemical changes perpe- 

 tually going on throughout nature ; while it 

 exhibits the relations of caloric and electricity 

 in all their multiform states, in the most instruc- 

 tive manner. There is also a striking resem- 

 blance between the phenomena of galvanic heat 

 and that developed by volcanic agency ; not 

 only in the chemical mode of their production, 

 but in the effects they afterwards exhibit. In 

 both cases the radiating power of the igneous 

 aether evolved is exceedingly small, compared 

 with its power of fusing rocks, metals, gems, &c. 

 while they are both attended with thermotic and 

 electrical phenomena. A large voltaic battery, 

 capable of producing a current sufficiently 

 powerful to fuse and ignite the most obdurate 

 bodies, excites no sensation of warmth beyond 



