134 Crosse's Experiments ivitli the Voltaic Battery. 



these experiments, by passing a stream of electricity through cyl- 

 inders filled with various fluids under a glass receiver inverted 

 over mercury, the greatest possible care being taken to shut out 

 extraneous matter. Should there be those who blame me for not 

 having done this before, to such I answer that, independent of a 

 host of other hindrances, which it is not in my power to set aside, 

 I have been closely pursuing a long train of experiments on the 

 formation of crystalline matters by the electric agency, and now 

 different modifications of the Yoltaic battery ; in which I am so 

 interested, that none but the ardent can conceive what is not in 

 my power to describe. 



2dly. These insects do not appear to have originated from oth- 

 ers similar to themselves, as they are formed in all cases with ac- 

 cess of moisture, and in some cases two inches below the surface 

 of the fluid in which they are born ; and if a full grown and per- 

 fect insect be let fall into any fluid, it is infallibly drowned. 



3dly. I believe they live for many weeks : occasionally I have 

 found them dead in groups, apparently from want of food. 



4thly. It has been frequently suggested to me to repeat these 

 experiments without using the electric agency ; but this would 

 be by no means satisfactory, let the event be what it would. It 

 is well known that saline matters are easily crystallized without 

 subjecting them to the electric action ; but it by no means fol- 

 lows that, because artificial electricity is not applied, such crystals 

 are formed without the electric influence. I have made so many 

 experiments on electrical crystallization, that I am firmly convin- 

 ced in my own mind, that electric attraction is the cause of the 

 formation of every crystal, whether artificial electricity be applied 

 or not. I am, however, well aware of the ditficulty of getting 

 at the truth in these matters, and of separating cause from eftect. 

 It has often occurred to me, how it is that such numbers of ani- 

 malcules are produced in flour and water, in pepper and water r 

 also, the insects which infest fruit trees after a blight ? Does not 

 a chemical change take place in the water, and likewise in the 

 sap of the tree previous to the appearance of these insects, and is 

 or is not every chemical change produced by electric agency ? 

 In making these observations I seek to mislead no one. The 

 book of nature is opened wide to our view by the Almighty 

 power, and we must endeavor, as far as our feeble faculties will 

 permit, to make a good use of it ; always remembering, that 



