180 Biography of Berzelius. 
characters from that obtained by means of nitric acid, was, in ref- 
Gay-Lussac shewed that it did not differ from the oxyd prepared 
with nitric acid in its quantity of oxygen. After Berzelius had 
convinced himself of the truth of this remark, he showed how 
much the two differed in their characters. This was the first ex- 
ample of Isomerism. 
Berzelius connected the electro-chemical doctrine with that of 
simple definite proportions. It was very natural that he should 
apply the phenomena presented by the voltaic pile, and especially 
the facts which in his first paper he had so convincingly ex- 
plained, to the ordinary chemical processes. He assumed, that 
in every chemical process there was a neutralization of the oppo- 
site electricities, in consequence of which heat and light were 
produced in the same way asin the discharge ofa Leyden jar, the 
galvanic battery, or lightning, with the difference, that these phe- 
nomena were not rp accompanied by chemical mn 
positi ve. The con intensity of the electrical polarity in 
the atoms of different bodies, dependent partly upon their tem- 
perature, was regarded as the cause of the difference of force with 
which affinities are exercised. He altered his views of this sub- 
ject at different times, finally admitted that it was very pos- 
sible that he was in e 
In classifying woilteen as electro-positive and electro-negative, 
Berzelius regarded oxygen and the elements resembling it as elec- 
tro-positive. Subsequently, however, he altered the nomencla- 
ture, and more correctly calle them e lectro-negative. Oxygen 
alone he regarded as absolutely electro- -hegative, all other bodies 
being only relatively negative or positive, just as they would be 
related to each other when their compounds were exposed to the 
influence of the electric pile. 
These views of Berzelius have been frequently disputed. And 
in truth, the phenomena attending the greater number of ordinaty 
cheninal processes, in which bodies act upon each other only 
when in immediate contact, are different from those which occur 
during the discharge of an sluekric pile where bodies act at a dis- 
a It is only i in some chemical ira: such as the arbor- 
nt deposition of metals, that there is a resemblance ser 
eaiveeaisiona effected by the pile. 
