188 HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY. 



of electric influence in the wire ; and this current, 

 if it pass through an electrolyte, manifests itself 

 by decomposition, overcoming the chemical affinity 

 which there resists it. An electrolyte cannot con- 

 duct without being decomposed. The forces at the 

 point of composition and the point of decomposition 

 are of the same kind, and are opposed to each other 

 by means of the conducting-wire ; the wire may 

 properly be spoken of* 5 as conducting chemical 

 affinity : it allows two forces of the same kind to 

 oppose one another 26 ; electricity is only another 

 made of the exertion of chemical forces 27 ; and we 

 might express all the circumstances of the voltaic 

 pile without using any other term than chemical 

 affinity, though that of electricity may be very con- 

 venient 28 . Bodies are held together by a definite 

 power, which, when it ceases to discharge that 

 office, may be thrown into the condition of an 

 electric current 29 . 



Thus the great principle of the identity of elec- 

 trical and chemical action was completely esta^ 

 blished. It was, as Faraday, with great candour 

 says 30 , a confirmation of the general views put forth 

 by Davy, in 1806, and might be expressed in his 

 terms, that " chemical and electrical attractions are 

 produced by the same cause ;" but it is easy to see 

 that neither was the full import of these expressions 

 understood, nor were the quantities to which they 



25 Art. 918. 2C 910. 27 915. 



28 917. 29 855. 30 965. 



