Hare's Neio Galvanic Apparatus, Theory, t^-c. 1 1 5 



there not twice the intensity ? But the one acts suddenly, it 

 may be said ; the other slowly. But whence this difference ? 

 They may both have exactly the same surface to exist in. 

 The same zinc and copper plates may be used for coatings 

 first, and a galvanic pair afterwards. Let it be said, as it 

 may in truth, that the charge is, in the one case attached to 

 the glass superficies, in the other exists in the pores of the 

 metal. But why does it avoid these pores in one case 

 and reside in them in the other .'' What else resides in the 

 pores of the metal which may be forced out by percussion .'' 

 Is it not caloric ^ Possibly, unless under constraint, or cir^ 

 cumstances favorable to a union between this principle and 

 electricityj the latter cannot enter the metalhc pores, beyond 

 a certain degree of saturation ; and hence an electrical 

 charge does not reside in the metallic coatings of a Leyden 

 phial, though it fuses the wire which forms a circuit between 

 them. 



It is admitted that the action of the galvanic fluid, is upon 

 or between atoms ; while mechanical electricity when unco- 

 erced, acts only upon masses. This dilTerence has not been 

 explained unless by my hypothesis, in which caloric, of 

 which the influence is only exerted between atoms, is sup- 

 posed to be a principal agent in galvanism. Nor has any 

 "other reason been given that water, which dissipates pure 

 electricity, should cause the galvanic fluid to accumulate. 

 "From the prodigious effect which moist air, or a moist sur- 

 face, has in paralyzing the most efficient machines, I am led 

 to suppose, that the conducting power of moisture so situa- 

 ted, is greater than that of water under its surface. The 

 power of this fluid to conduct mechanical electricity, is un- 

 fairly contrasted with that of a metal, when the former is 

 enclosed in a glass tube, the latter bare. 



According to Singer, the electrical accumulation is as 

 great when water ig used, as when more powerful menstrua 

 are employed; but the power of ignition is wanting, until 

 these are resorted to. De Luc showed, by his ingenious 

 dissections of the pile, that electricity might be produced 

 without, or ivith chemical power. The rationale of these 

 differences never has been given, unless by my theory, 

 which supposes caloric to be present in the one case, but 

 not in the other. The electric column was the fruit of De 

 Luc's sagacious enquiries, and afforded a beautiful and in- 



