66 Mr. H. Wilde on the Indefinite Quantitative 



(IV.) That a definite amount of chemical action in 

 a voltaic cell will produce an equal amount of chemical 

 action in an electrolytic cell in connection with it, or, as 

 expressed generally by Faraday, " that the electricity 

 which decomposes, and that which is evolved by the 

 decomposition of a certain quantity of matter, are alike," 

 and "that their electro-chemical equivalents are the same as 

 their ordinary chemical equivalents,"* is a law well estab- 

 lished by experiment, and finds important applications 

 both in abstract and applied science. But the antithetical 

 principle that an indefinitely small amount of chemical 

 action in a voltaic cell will produce an indefinitely large 

 amount of chemical action, is equally true, as I will now 

 demonstrate. 



Let a, Fig. 4, represent a single Daniell's cell, and 

 b, c, d, e four or more electrolytic cells containing a 

 solution of copper sulphate, with a pair of copper 

 electrodes in each cell. . Now, if one cell b be placed in 

 connection with the Daniell's cell, an equal amount of 

 copper will be deposited in both cells, and the weight of 

 zinc and copper combining with the electrolyte will be in 

 exact proportion to their chemical equivalents. So far the 

 experiment is one of the best examples of the law of 

 definite electrolysis, and has its strict analogue in the 

 common balance, or the first unit of length on the lever, 

 Fig. 3. If, however, another electrolytic cell c be placed 

 in series with the cell b, and the amount of electrode 

 surface in contact with the electrolyte be doubled, without 

 any change being made in the Daniell's cell, then will the 

 amount of copper deposited in each cell be the same as in 

 the previous experiment, and, consequently, the amount 

 of copper deposited in the two electrolytic cells together 

 will be double in the same time as with one cell. 



* Faraday's Experimental Researches in Electricity. Phil. Trans. 1834, 

 pars. 868, 839. 



