160 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 
the electrodes. Floats may be put in all the compartments, except 
_those containing the platinum plates, in which the liquid is too much 
agitated by gaseous bubbles due to electrolysation; and on viewing 
these floats with a glass, the displacements I have described become 
sensible much earlier. In the intermediate compartments the liquid 
remains stationary,for several hours; but after a certain time the 
liquid begins to rise in the compartments towards the positive pole, 
and to fall in those towards the negative pole. I shall mention but 
one precaution which must not be neglected in these experiments, 
namely, that the diaphragms must be as equal as possible. 
In a second series of experiments I closed one end of each of two 
glass tubes with a porcelain diaphragm fixed with mastic. Each 
of these tubes was then placed in a glass vessel, and both vessels 
and tubes were filled to the same height with well-water. The same 
current passed through both tubes, in each case passing from the water 
in the vessel to that in the tube, the only difference being in the 
position of the platinum electrodes, which in the one case were very 
near the diaphragm, while in the other they were placed at the 
greatest possible distance from it. Under these circumstances I in- 
variably found that the electric endosmose made its appearance much 
sooner, and with much greater intensity in the first case than in the 
second. 
I shall not stop to discuss the consequences of these experiments, 
since they appear to me to be obvious, and to prove that the phenome- 
non in question is no other than that mentioned above, that is to say, a 
case of endosmose produced by changes in the composition of the liquid 
in contact with the two electrodes. I should mention here that the 
liquid round the positive electrode always acquires an acid reaction, 
while that round the negative electrode becomes alkaline, and that 
these effects are produced even when distilled water is employed. I 
did not content mysclf with the ancient experiments of Dutrochet, 
which prove that there isa current of endosmose from an acid liquid 
to water, from water to an alkaline liquid, and from an acid to an 
alkaline liquid. I repeated the experiment with the two liquids 
which had been in contact with the electrodes as described above, 
sometimes making use of both of the liquids, sometimes testing each 
of them separately with pure water. I invariably found that there 
was endosmose from the liquid that had been in contact with the 
positive electrode to pure water, and from pure water to the liquid 
that had been in contact with the negative electrode. It appears 
therefore that the conditions for the production of ordinary endosmose 
are undoubtedly present in the phenomenon called electric endos- 
mose. I should, however, observe that the amount of displacement 
by endosmose is much less when the liquids which have been in 
contact with the electrodes are experimented on simply without 
any electric current, and that it is hardly perceptible in the case of 
electrolysed distilled water. Without attempting to explain all the 
phenomena of electric endosmose, it seems natural to suppose that 
the presence of electricity, and the peculiar state in which the ele- 
ments of electrolysation are produced, give to these products pro- 
perties which influence the effect of endosmose, and which cease 
with the cessation of the current.—Comptes Rendus, Dec. 1860, 
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