Faraday as a Discoverer. 189 
been satisfied with a deduction if he could have reduced it to 
afact. And he has taught me that the fact here is the direct 
reverse of what I supposed it to be. Thesmall bubbles are oxy- 
gen, and their smallness is due to the perfect cleanness of the 
surface on which they are liberated. The hydrogen adhering 
to the other electrode swells into large bubbles, which rise in 
much slower succession; but when the current is reversed, the 
hydrogen is liberated upon the cleansed wire, and then its bub- 
bles also become small. 
Laws of Electro-Chemical Decomposition. 
se terms have be- 
Come current in science. He called the positive electrode the 
re copy these word i i ing lecture, 
i 3 from the printed abstract of a Friday evening 
=a by myself, because they adat me of Faraday’s voice responding to on 
ii, p. ro by an emphatic hear ! hear !—Proceedings of the Royal Institution, vo? 
+ Ih 1838 he ex . Paee Te: ; expressive in 
presses himself thus:—‘‘ The word current is so exp 
Ainge language that when applied in the consideration of electrical napercne ri 
thong divest it sufficiently of its meaning, or prevent our minds from 
8 Prejudiced by it.’—Hwp, Researches, vol. i, p. 615, (§ 1617.) 
