CALORIC AND ELECTRICITY. 443 



modern times in gunpowder and other fulmi- 

 nating compounds in volcanic eruptions and 

 in that process of evaporation by which the rains 

 of heaven are distilled from the ocean, trans- 

 ported through the atmosphere, and deposited 

 in fertilizing showers that it holds together the 

 atoms of solids with inconceivable force, and dis- 

 aggregates them with equal force in short, that 

 it is the grand instrument of Almighty Power 

 in executing the laws of nature. 



The mechanical agency of electricity is equally 

 striking, though less constantly exerted. It over- 

 comes the cohesion of all bodies, whether simple 

 or compound, and acts equally on particles or 

 masses. It transports the different elements of 

 bodies to opposite poles of the battery. Acids 

 may be conveyed through alkalies, and alkalies 

 through acids, to their respective poles without 

 neutralizing each other. It has been shewn by 

 M. Fusinieri, that electric sparks issuing from 

 the brass conductors of ordinary machines, con- 

 tain incandescent particles of zinc and copper. 

 When drawn from silver, they contain impal- 

 pable particles of silver, that may be seen with a 

 good microscope, and discovered by chemical 

 tests. When a spark issuing from a knob of 

 gold passes through a plate of silver, a circular 

 spot, or stratum of gold is seen on the surface of 

 the plate where the spark entered and emerged, 

 which soon volatilizes and disappears and when 



