SECT. XXIX. VOLTAIC ELECTRICITY. 301 



that it gives no sign either of attraction or repulsion. Common 

 or static electricity is of greater intensity and has a greater 

 power of overcoming resistance than Voltaic electricity, but it 

 acts upon a smaller quantity of matter. However, hy diminish- 

 ing the size of the plates, and increasing their number, the inten- 

 sity of a battery may be increased till it becomes equal to that 

 of the electrical machine. 



The action of Voltaic electricity differs in some respects 

 materially from that of the ordinary kind. When a quantity of 

 common electricity is accumulated, the restoration of equilibrium 

 is attended by an instantaneous violent explosion, accompanied 

 by the development of light, heat, and sound. The concentrated 

 power of the electricity forces its way through every obstacle, dis- 

 rupting and destroying the cohesion of the particles of the bodies 

 through which it passes, and occasionally increasing its destruc- 

 tive effects by the conversion of fluids into steam from the inten- 

 sity of the momentary heat, as when trees are torn to pieces by a 

 stroke of lightning. Even the vivid light which marks the path 

 of the electricity is probably owing in part to the sudden com- 

 pression of the air and the rapidity of its passage. But the 

 instant equilibrium is restored by this energetic action the whole 

 is at an end. On the contrary, when an accumulation takes 

 place in a Voltaic battery, equilibrium is restored the moment 

 the circuit is completed. But so far is the electric stream from 

 being exhausted, that it continues to flow silently and invisibly 

 in an uninterrupted current supplied by a perpetual reproduction. 

 And, although its action on bodies is neither so sudden nor so 

 intense as that of common electricity, yet it acquires such power 

 from constant accumulation and continued action, that it ulti- 

 mately surpasses the energy of the other. The two kinds of 

 electricity differ in no circumstance more than in the development 

 of heat. Instead of a momentary evolution, the circulation of 

 the Voltaic electricity is accompanied by a continued develop- 

 ment of heat, lasting as long as the circuit is complete, without 

 producing either light or sound. Its intensity from a very power- 

 ful battery is greater than that of any heat that can be obtained 

 by artificial means, so that it fuses substances which resist 

 the action of the most powerful furnaces. The temperature 

 of every part of a Voltaic battery itself is raised during its 

 activity. With the greater number of metals Mr. Grove 



