DR. FARADAY. 447 



chemical action of a grain of water upon four 

 grains of zinc, can evolve electricity equal in 

 quantity to that of a powerful thunder storm." 



If this inference were well founded, the chemi- 

 cal action of a pound of water upon four pounds 

 of zinc, would afford as much electricity as many 

 thousand thunder storms, each of which is often 

 attended with from twenty to fifty or more flashes 

 of lightning : so that if the Doctor should devise 

 a mode of disengaging it in the concentrated 

 form, and in rapid succession, his experiments 

 would rival the thunders of Jove. 



But this is not the climax of modern discove- 

 ries : for if we are to credit the account of Pro- 

 fessor Ritchie, u Dr. Faraday has found from a 

 recent experiment that, by the action of electri- 

 city on a copper wire, as much light was given 

 out in the course of a few days, as could be 

 emitted from the sun in a year." (Records of 

 Science, vol. i. p. 315.) And that this miraculous 

 story was not intended as a satire, would appear 

 from the gravity with which Dr. Ritchie adduces 

 it " as a strong argument in favour of the undu- 

 latory theory of light," of which he was known 

 to be a strenuous advocate. But I must return 

 to the sober and legitimate facts of science. 



Like caloric, we have found that electricity fuses 

 the most hard and refractory bodies. As an ex- 

 ample of this, we are informed by Becquerel, 

 on the authority of Dr. Fiedler, that in eastern 



