340 THE EOYAL INSTITUTION. [CHAP. VI. 



c Changes Produced in Water by Electricity ; ' on the 

 4 Agencies of Electricity ; ' on the ' Decomposition of 

 various Compound Bodies ; ' on the ' Transfer of certain 

 Constituent Parts of Bodies by the Action of Electri- 

 city ; ' on the ' Passage of Acids, Alkalies, and other 

 Substances through various Attracting Chemical Men- 

 strua by Means of Electricity;' Some General Obser- 

 vations on these Phenomena, and on the Mode of 

 Decomposition and Transition ; ' on the ' General 

 Principles of the Chemical Changes Produced by 

 Electricity ; ' on the ' Kelations between the Electrical 

 Energies of Bodies and their Chemical Affinities ; ' on 

 the 'Mode of Action of the Pile of Volta, with 

 Experimental Elucidations ; ' on ' Some General Illus- 

 trations and Applications of the Foregoing Facts 

 and Principles.' 



This was the first dawn of light regarding the in- 

 separable union between chemical and electrical 

 motions. The two ends of the pile of metals gave in 

 quantity and quality different chemical results, and 

 the chemical products varied with the variations of 

 the liquid into which the poles were put. The 

 identity of chemical affinity and electricity was 

 imagined, and a new division of elements was made 

 into electro-positive and electro-negative, according as 

 the one or other end of the pile attracted them. The 

 kind of polarity of each matter was thought to 

 determine the electrical and chemical actions shown 

 by it. 



Napoleon had founded a prize of 2,400. for a 

 discovery comparable to that of Franklin or Volt a, and 



