Figure 12. — Plunge battery using Wollaston's U-shaped electrodes. From 

 T. Karass, Geschichte der Telegraphie, Braunschweig, 1909, p. 55. 



purities from doing so. Although Davy casually men- 

 tioned the use of such an amalgamated electrode in 

 his Bakerian Lecture-' of 1826, De la Rive was 

 the first to examine and explain the relation be- 

 tween amalgamation and local action. -^ (It may be 

 that Davy was led to try such electrodes by analogy 

 with the use of amalgamated electrodes in the u.sual 

 electrostatic machine.) K. T. Kemp^' and William 

 Sturgeon-'' were the first to use amalgamation regu- 

 larly in their experiments. 



Polarization results from the formation of a gaseous 

 or solid film at an electrode. This film may prevent 

 chemical interaction between the electrode and the 



21 Humphrey Davy, "On the Relations of Electrical and 

 Chemical Changes," Philosophical Transactions, 1826, vol. 116, 

 pp. 383^22. 



22 Auguste de la Rive, "Note relative a Faction qu'exerce 

 sur le zinc I'acide sulfurique etendu d'eau," Bibliotheque univer- 

 selle, sciences et arts, 1830, vol. 43, pp. 391-411. 



23 K. T. Kemp, "Description of a Nevif Kind of Galvanic 

 Pile, and also of Another Galvanic Apparatus in the Form of a 

 Trough," Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, 1828, vol. 6, pp. 

 10-11; "Voltaic Batteries with Amalgamated Zinc," Annals of 

 Electricity, Magnetism and Chemistry (hereinafter referred to as 

 Sturgeon's Annals of Electricity), 1837, vol. 1, pp. 81-88. 



2* William Sturgeon, "On Electro-Magnets," Philosophical 

 Magazine, 1832, vol. 11, pp. 194-205. 







c 





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SJ>(. 





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f 





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t> r <f F 





























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Figure 13. — Oersted's trough battery. From 

 Schweigger's Journal jiXr Chemie mid Physik, 

 18 17, vol. QO, fig. 2 of plate in Heft 2. 



electrolyte and may cause a current in the direction 

 opposite to the normal flow. 



One of the first practical answers to the problem of 

 gaseous polarization was found by J. Frederic Daniell, 

 who in 1836 constructed a cell that used not one elec- 

 trolyte but two.^^ As early as 1801 Davy had devised 

 a two-solution cell to demonstrate his theory that 

 electricity was the result of chemical oxidation rather 



2»J. Frederic Daniell, "On Voltaic Combinations," Philo- 

 sophical Transactions, 1836, vol. 126, pp. 107-124; "Additional 

 Observations on Voltaic Combinations," Philosophical Transac- 

 tions, 1836, vol. 126, pp. 125-129; "Further Observations on 

 Voltaic Combinations," Philosophical Transactions, 1837, vol. 

 127, pp. 141-150. 



PAPER 28: DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRICAL TECHNOLOGY IN THE 19TH CENTURY: I 



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