Hare's Calorimotor. 417 



^ut into separate squares. By having them thus divided, I 

 have been enabled to ascertain that when all of one kind of 

 metal are ranged on one side of the frame, and all of the other 

 kind on the other side of it, the eflfect is no greater than might 

 be expected from one pair of plates. 



Volta, considering the changes consequent to his contriv- 

 ance as the -eflfect of a movement in the electric fluid, called 

 the process electro-motion, and the plates producing it electro- 

 motors. But the phenomena show that the plates, as I 

 have arranged them, are calori-motors, or heat movers, 

 and the effect calori-motion. That this is a new view of 

 the subject, may be inferred from the following passage in 

 Davy's Elements. That great chemist observes, " When 

 very small conducting surfaces are used for conveying very 

 large quantities of electricity, they become ignited ; and of the 

 different conductors that have been compared, charcoal is 

 most easily heated by electrical discharges,* next iron, platina, 

 gold, then copper, and lastly, zinc. The phenomena of elec- 

 trical ignition, whether taking place in gaseous, fluid, or solid 

 bodies, always seem to be the result of a violent exertion of 

 the electrical attractive and repellent powers, which may be 

 connected with motions of the particles of the substances 

 affected. That no subtile fluid, such as the matter of heat 

 has been imagined to be, can be discharged from these sub- 

 stances, in consequence of the effect of the electricity, seems 

 probable, from the circumstance, that a wire of platina may 

 be preserved in a state of intense ignition in vacuo, by means 

 of the Voltaic apparatus, for an unlimited time; and such a 

 wire cannot be supposed to contain an inexhaustible quantity 

 of subtile matter." 



But I demand where are the repellent and attractive powers 

 to which the ignition produced by the Calorimotor can be at- 

 tributed ? Besides, I would beg leave respectfully to inquire 

 of this illustrious author, whence the necessity of considering 

 the heat evolved under the circumstances alluded to as the 

 effect of the electrical fluid ; or why we may not as well sup- 

 pose the latter to be excited by the heat ? It is evident, as he 



* The conclusions are drawn from experiments made by the electricity of the 

 Voltaic apparatus. 



