Figure 27. — Preparation of electrodes for 

 Plante cell. From Gaston Plante, Recherches 

 ji ^^ siir Pelectricite, Paris, 1883, p. 40. 



2%d 



Figure 29. — Charging a Plante cell with a 

 Bunsen battery. From Gaston Plante, 

 Recherches sur I'electricite, Paris, 1883, p. 43. 



Ritter, using the galvanic current, electrolyzed water 

 and precipitated metals from their solution.''* 



The interesting results of Nicholson and Carlisle 

 led to similar experiments on a larger scale, and it 

 was not long before the new force of electricity was 

 replacing fire as a means of analyzing a chemical 

 compound into its elements. In 1807 Humphrey 

 Davy,"*^ as mentioned earlier, tried the action of the 

 voltaic current on soda and potash and so discovered 

 two new metals — sodium and potassium. In order to 

 prove his results, Davy successfully reversed this analy- 

 sis with a synthesis of these oxides. The next year 

 other new elements were discovered: calcium, barium, 

 strontium, and magnesium.^" 



Figure 28. — Plante cell. From Gaston Plante, 

 Recherches sur P eleclricite , Paris, 1883, p. 35. 



*' Johann Ritter, "Uber den elektrischen oder galvanischen 

 Apparat Volta's und iiber die chemische Wirkungen der 

 galvanischen Elektrizitat, von Nicholson, Cruickshanks und 

 Henry," Annalen der Physik, 1800, vol. 6, pp. 468-472. 



•" Davy, op. cit. (footnote 11). 



5» Davy, op. cit. (footnote 15). 



250 



BULLETIN 228 : CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



