407 



Lest it should be supposed that this quantity had been 

 really evolved, but was lost by dissipation, an experiment was 

 made, in which a voltaic pair, the zinc weighing four grains, 

 was made to act as above described, the whole being contained 

 in a hermetically sealed glass vessel, with an electrometer so 

 constructed that it would indicate the smallest quantity of 

 dissipated electricity ; but there was not the slightest appear- 

 ance of such. 



Should it be affirmed that the alleged enormous quantity 

 of electricity was produced, but, being in the positive and nega- 

 tive states, they neutralized and destroyed each other, the fol- 

 lowing experiment was opposed to the supposition. A plate 

 of zinc was connected with a plate of platinum, by means of 

 an inch of platinum wire j^^ inch thick : this was included in 

 a glass sphere with dilute sulphuric acid, the glass being her- 

 metically sealed. When the acid was made to act on the zinc, 

 there was not the least appearance of heat in the platinum 

 wire, resulting from the neutralization of the alleged enormous 

 quantity of the two states of electricity ; nor were any traces 

 of electrical action on the electrometer discoverable. If, ac- 

 cording to the hypothesis, the equivalent of 240 millions of 

 positive and negative one-inch sparks had passed through the 

 platinum wire, at the rate of 1,600,000 per second, need it be 

 inquired what would have become of the wire and the whole 

 apparatus. Van Marum, with one discharge of his battery, 

 melted forty feet of thin iron wire. 



The supporters of the doctrine here objected to may 

 maintain that the alleged quantity of electricity was really in 

 operation, but that it was retained and concealed in the con- 

 stitution of the resulting gases ; and this also seems to be the 

 opinion of Faraday, by his adoption of the electro-chemical 

 theory of Berzelius, wherein he expresses his belief that the 

 light and heat evolved during combination are produced by the 

 discharge of positive and negative electricity which at that 

 moment takes place. If in the seven or eight cubic inches of 



VOL. III. 2 M 



