14 Quarterly German Magazine. 



positive electricity flows continually from the copper through 

 the wire to the zinc and from the zinc through the fluid to 

 the copper, and inversely, the negative electricity flows con- 

 tinually from the zinc through the wire to the copper, and 

 from the copper through the fluid to the zinc. This rotation 

 of the two electricities in an opposite direction, is called an 

 electrical current^ and indeed, a 'permanent current^ to distin- 

 guish it from the currents in the Ley den-jar, in which the 

 electricities, which have accumulated on the inside and out- 

 side of the jar, discharge themselves with a shock. In order 

 to know, in which direction the electricities move, it is ne- 

 cessary to observe, what metal forms the positive pole. In 

 one apparatus it is #bpper; from this proceeds positive elec- 

 tricity, and as necessarily ■ the negative electricity moves in 

 the opposite direction, we say, the electric current flows from 

 the copper through the wire to the zinc and from the zinc 

 through the fluid to the copper. 



The quantity of electricity, which is set in motion by 

 such a contrivance, is very small ; but it can be increased, if 

 several elements be so united together, that the copper end 

 of the one be always joined to the zinc end of the other. 

 This is then called a combined chain ^ compounded from se- 

 veral elements. In the first element there remains a zinc end 

 free, and in the last a copper end, which form the poles of 

 the connected chain. If we join those by a conducting wire, 

 then the whole of the electricities, which have been free, move- 

 through it, whereby we obtain very strong electric shocks. 



If we then divide the conducting wire, which unites the 

 poles, into two parts, the current is interrupted, as soon as 

 those parts are separated by a non-conducting body. By in- 

 serting different bodies between the wires, we can conduct 



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