VOLTAIC ACTION OF PHOSPHORUS, SULPHUR AND HYDROCARBONS. S61 



which will give a continuous current ; no new plates are ever needed, the electrolyte 

 is never saturated, and requires no renewal except the trifling loss from evaporation, 

 which indeed is lessened, if the battery be in action, by the newly composed water. 

 There is an aperture in the pedestal with a moveable slide, through which the vessel 

 B' can be removed, when necessary, to replace the zinc, and the remaining part of the 

 apparatus is never disturbed. This battery would form an elegant substitute for the 

 water battery ; it would much exceed in intensity a similar number of series of that 

 apparatus ; it would be applicable to experiments of slow crystallization and possibly 

 to the telegraph. Its construction is difficult and makes its prime cost expensive, but 

 after that it is the most durable, the most easily charged, and the most free from 

 local action of any known form. I have had one of ten cells constructed, shown at 

 fig. 5, which succeeds perfectly, giving sparks, decomposing water, &c., and is ever 

 ready for use. Any number of such sets might be united by adapter-tubes ; or indeed 

 it would be much more economical, and reduce to a minimum the damage from 

 breakage, to. have the main channels A A' made of varnished wood or porcelain, with 

 apertures into which separate glass tubes might be cemented. 



London Institution, May 30, 1845. 



3 B 2 



