Laws of the Elementary Voltaic Battery. 67 



tt is only necessary to compare the final numbers in the columns 

 of any of the foregoing sets of observations, with the numbers above 

 the columns, expressing the number of inches immersed to discover 

 the entire absence of the proportionality assumed in the law. Had 

 the deflections been announced, to conform to the square roots of the 

 surfaces, a much closer approximation would in many cases be wit- 

 Jiessed, but this cannot be laid down without doing equal violence to 

 experiment. All that we venture at present to establish, is the im- 

 portant practical fact, that the power of the battery increases much 

 more slowly than the quantity of metallic surface, and that, as far at 

 least, as deflection and the other properties of which this is a ineas- 

 •ure, are concerned, there will be a very useless expenditure of metal 

 by increasing beyond a certain point the dimensions of the plates. 



IV. On the influence of temperature to exalt the energy of the 

 battery. 



21. It has been mentioned by Dr. Ritchie, and has been known, 

 we believe, to electricians for some lime, that healing the solution 

 tends to augment the activity of the battery. Seeing ourselves in 

 possession of an instrument which enabled us to measure numeri- 

 cally, exceedingly minute augmentations of force, it became an en- 

 quiry of some interest to ascertain the amount of influence exerted 

 by temperature. 



A glass vessel with wide mouth was nearly filled with some of the 

 solution of the ordinary strength. The usual cover with slits to re- 

 ceive the plates, was then adapted to the top, and the whole support- 

 ed on a stand, and a spirit lamp applied beneath. The slips were 4 

 inches long, f of an inch distant, and plunged 2 inches in the liquid. 

 Before heating the solution, the temperature was Q6°. Temp, rising 

 from 110° to 150°. 



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Vol. XXVII.— No. 1. 8 



