1^ ON GALVANISM. 



thing like cast iron : its fibres appeared like it. It afforded less 

 hydrogen gas, with a solution of the vitriolic acid and water, 

 than the same weight of wire that had not been used in this 

 galvanic process ; and I should have supposed, that it would 

 have burned with less inflammation, if it had been burned in 

 Oxigen gas: two slips of charcoal, that had been long used as 

 galvanic wire, had lost greatly their combubtibility ; and when 

 applied to the calces of metals, produced a less proportion of 

 them, tbrvn the same quantity of charcoal would have done, 

 that had not been galvanised. The power of the pile was by 

 no means so strong, as to suppose there had been any combus- 

 tion in any of the wires ; but evidently their combustible 

 principle or property had been extracted by the galvanic fluid, 

 producing gases. It is clearly so, from this self evident de- 

 monstration, namely, these gases are well known to be capa,-^ 

 jbl^ of combustion. To prove this doctrine, I took incombus- 

 tible bodies, as the animal fibre, well washed from all its comr 

 Isuitible matter, for there was pnly the white muscular fibre 

 left, and Used it instead of the metallic, or charcoal wires, and 

 they produced no gases, neither from the silver nor zinc sides. 

 But y^'hen, instead of water being placed between the muscula^" 

 fibres, I placed a solution of potash, I found the solution ve^y 

 soon nitrated. Now it must appear, that the acid which un". 

 doyibtedly the galvanic fluid possesses, instead of having the 

 inflammable substance of the wires to unite itself to, so as to 

 form gases, united itself to the potash neutralizing it. I think 

 these are such self eivident truths, that they cannot possibly be 

 otherwise explained. 

 . Arguments The Lavoisjeran explanation of these phenomena, upon the 



against the La- ^.QjjjpQsitiojj of \vater, is directly contradicted by every fact. 



voisierian tbeo- , . ,,.,., 



ry of Galvanic "the wires acted by aiding the galvanic fluid in decompound- 

 ing the water, we cannot rationally suppose that the zinc, be- 

 ing the calcinable wire would produce the oxigen gas: for 

 this theory says, that Avhen metals are calcined by water, the 

 metal seizes its oxigen, and its hydrogen is set free as gas . 

 and its advocates have been pushed, to this extraordinary ex- 

 planation, that the galvanic fluid seizes upon the hydrogen of 

 the water, leaving the oxigen free ; but then, in this case, it 

 would do the same when the animal fibre was used instead of 

 the metal : but it is not so; the animal fibre forms no gas. — 



Resides 



