Remarks upon and Experiments ivith Faure's Secondary 



Battery. 



By John Booth Kirkland, 



Assistant in the Laboratories at the University Medical School. 

 Read September 8th, 1881 j 



At the last meeting of the society I had the honour of 

 showing a modification of Plante's secondary battery, as 

 made by M. Faure. Since that meeting I have been able 

 to make several interesting experiments with it. Before 

 relating these experiments, I may be permitted to shortly 

 describe the construction of Faure's battery after the 

 manner found by me to be most advantageous. Each 

 cell is made up as follows: — Two sheets of felt, 12 x 36 

 inches ; two sheets of lead, 5 J x 30 inches ; one sheet of 

 vegetable parchment, 12 J x 36 inches. The felt was laid on 

 a flat surface, and coated with a paste consisting of red oxide 

 of lead and dilute sulphuric acid, one to ten. A sheet 

 of lead was then placed within half-an-inch of one edge of 

 the felt; the remaining coated surface folded over. Of the 

 two sheets thus prepared one was covered with vegetable 

 parchment, then placed one on top of the other, rolled to- 

 gether, and immersed in dilute sulphuric acid. 



Four cells prepared in this way were connected together as 

 one cell, and charged by means of two Callans cells, operating 

 for two hours. They were then disconnected. One cell 

 was found capable of rendering two inches of No. 17 platinum 

 wire (about as thick as bell wire) red hot. With four 

 connected for quantity 5 inches of No. 17 platinum wire 

 became incandescent. 



Connected in series N P N P with a large inductorium an 

 effect equal to that producible by six Callans was obtained. 



The secondary cells after standing twenty-four hours were 

 still capable of working that instrument as poAverf ully as two 

 Callans, and afterwards being put on to an electromotor, 

 the latter worked for half-an-hour without any apparent 

 diminution of speed. 



Four Faure's cells charged for two hours with two Callan 

 elements, and then connected in series, decomposed acidulated 

 water in the voltameter as follows : — 



I. 60 C.C in 30 minutes. 



II. 60 „ 40 



