EFFECTS OF KLECXAlClTY AND HEAT. §3 



advantage over that of caloric, becaufe its action is confined 



to the folid which it encounters in its courfe, fo that the gas 



itfelF will not experience a dilatation in oppofition to the con- 



denfation which accompanies the combination : To this cir- 



cumftance may be applied what is obferved in the aftion of 



hidrogen gas, which is capable of completely reducing an ox* 



ide of iron placed in the focus of a burning glals, although 



water, whofe two elements receive the heat equally, is dc- 



compofed by this metal. 



It is probable that it is alfo to the expanfive efTed of an Oxidation of 



eledric current eftabliflied between two metals, having a ftra- ™^'i'"'' ''^ ^'^^^ 

 /• 1 I • I • 1 (• IT- ""joty and wa- 



tum or water mterpoled, that the oxidation oblerved by Fa- ter. 



broni between thefe fubftances, placed in contact in water, is 



owing, and which, in this cafe, appears to be confined to the 



combination of the oxigen which is held in folution in this 



liquid *, 



All the chemical efFe£ls produced in fubftances fubmitted to This explanation 



the action of eleflricity, feem capable of being deduced from "f J^ fg^ncyof 

 ■^ ' ° eledtncity is ge- 



thefe confiderations, and of being explained by the diminution neral, but does 

 of the force of cohefion, which is an obftacle to the combina- nf": Aiew the dif- 



, . , , . ,, , ,.„, ference between 



tions which their moleculae tend to form; but the differences plus and minus. 

 which may be offered by pofitive elefiricity and negative elec- 

 tricity remain to be determined : the chemical erfecls of the 

 pile of Volta may be m«ch more confiderable than thofe of 

 the common elediricity, although the latter poiTed'es a much 

 greater tenfion, becaufe its action being neced'arily interrupt- 

 ed, the chemical efFeds which require time to be accom- 

 plidied, can only begin to be effefted, and may even be de- 

 ftroyed, by the fiidden re-eflablithment of the firfl ftate of the 

 body J while the permanence of the action of the eleciromo- Calvanifm may 

 tive apparatus, although weaker at each inftant, may give rife owe its greater 

 to the chemical changes which it promotes, by diminifliing the conftancy.' 

 efFefts of the force of cohefion. 



I db not inyfelf conlider the explanations I have now ha- 

 zarded as more than conjectures, which obfervation may con- 

 firm or defiroy. 



* Journ. de Phyf. Vendem. An. X, 



G 2 IdHet 



