Manchester Memoirs, Vol. lix. (1915), No. 11. 23 



remain the same whatever be their object. Moreover, the 

 power of thought does not attain to its full powers save 

 by the development of its various sides, an end which can 

 only be obtained by its application to widely diverse 

 subjects. 



Lavoisier occupied the position of " farmer-general of 

 the public revenues," and this was his misfortune. In 

 November, 1793, Convention ordered the arrest of the 

 " farmers general," and in May, 1794, Lavoisier and 

 twenty-seven others were condemned to death. 



The last few years of the 18th century constitute a 

 memorable period in the history of Science. Among the 

 discoveries made at this period we would further cite that 

 of the electric current, often known as the voltaic current 

 after the name of its inventor. 



Alessandra Volta was born at Como on the 18th 

 of February, 1745, and died in his native town on the 5th 

 of March, 1827. 



Volta followed with the greatest interest the researches 

 of GALVANI (1790) on the muscular contractions of frogs 

 under the influence of electricity. After many experi- 

 ments which lasted from 1 791-1799, he invented his cele- 

 brated electric pile, which consisted in discs of copper and 

 zinc (or other metals) with pieces of cloth between the 

 pairs. On the 20th of March, 1800 (three months before 

 the battle of Marengo), Volta addressed a letter contain- 

 ing a description of this apparatus to Sir Joseph Banks, 

 president of the Royal Society of London. 



Improvements were rapidly added by Volta himself 

 and by others, and numerous researches were carried out 

 with the new instrument. In the same year (1800) 

 Nicholson and Carlisle discovered that the electric 

 current had the power to decompose water into hydrogen 



