CHEMICAL ACTION AND MAGNETISM 297 



Apparently inconsistent with the protection-hypothesis 

 are the observations of Messrs. Nichols and Franklin, which 

 show that iron which has become passive through the action 

 of strong nitric acid suddenly regains its activity when intro- 

 duced into a magnetic field. One might be tempted to ascribe 

 this to the exposure of fresh surfaces, owing to the rearrange- 

 ment of the molecules during magnetization; but since the 

 investigators have reason to seek the cause in the induction 

 of local electric currents by the magnet, [147] we may assign 

 this phenomenon to the fourth category, that of galvanic 

 action in the magnetic field. To my knowledge, Messrs. 

 Nichols and Franklin were the first to experiment upon the 

 effect of an unequal magnetic field upon an electrolyte: the 

 movement of the paramagnetic salt to the interior portions 

 of the field, and the inequality of electric potential consequent 

 upon the variation of concentration, were proved, as might be 

 expected. We have, then, this effect, as well as that of the 

 Faradic induction, to account for any irregularities which 

 the galvanoscope might indicate, when a solution undergoing 

 electrolysis was also subjected to magnetic influence. Messrs. 

 Nichols and Franklin do ascribe their observations to this 

 cause, and see no reason to introduce a supposed change of the 

 chemical conditions. 



I fail to see any significance in the experiment of placing 

 one of two gas- voltameters, or one of two cells containing an 

 iron solution, 1 in a magnetic field, and looking for a difference 

 in the amount of decomposition when a current is passed 

 through the couple in series. Surely no such result could be 

 expected in the face of the universally acknowledged Law of 

 Faraday, unless, indeed, a magnetic field were imagined to 

 alter the quanti valence of the elements. 



To sum up : all experiments hitherto made have introduced 



1 Fossati. 



