2 62 EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. FT. ill. 



in our own century Sir H. Davy succeeded with a battery 

 of 3000 cells in producing a bright luminous arch between 

 these points when tipped with carbon, and here we have 

 the origin of our present electric light. Volta completed 

 his Voltaic pile in 1800, just at the close of the century, and 

 even from this slight sketch you may see what grand strides 

 had been made in electricty during the past fifty years. 



Franklin had proved the real action of electricity, had 

 shown it to be the same as lightning, and had brought it 

 down from the sky. Galvani had proved its existence in 

 animals, and led the way to Volta's- discoveries : and Volta 

 had produced it in enormous quantities by two metals and 

 acidulated water, so as to keep up a conr-tant flow, which 

 would travel any distance so long as the circuit was not 

 broken. Here, you will see, was the first step towards the 

 electric telegraph and the electric light, and though it was 

 but a commencement, yet when we reap the benefits we 

 must always remember the names of Franklin, Galvani, and 

 Volta, as the great pioneers in the science of electricity. 



Chief Works consulted. 'Lardner's Cyclopaedia, Electricity, Magnet- 

 ism, and Meteorology;' Encyclopaedias 'Britannica' and 'Metropo- 

 litana,' art. * Electricity ; ' Franklin's Experiments and Observations 

 on Electricity,' 1749; Priestley, 'On Electricity,' 1785; Thomson's 

 Hist, of Royal Society,' 1812 ; ' Life of Franklin,' by himself, 1833 ; 

 Bennett's 'Text-Book of Physiology ;' Fownes's ' Chemistry ;' Wilkin- 

 son's ' Galvanism.' 



