GALVANISM. 
placed in a platina cup connected with one end of the bat- 
ter tina wire was placed in the tube, and connetted 
with the other end. The action ar fie = iia: tgl 
and the acid and alkali formed as ount: of 
this experiment was publifhed in Nicholfon’ $ ioe for 
Augult 1806. 
, hefe experiments are not noticed by any philofopher 
till eel were ates by Mr. Davy, in the very valuable 
paper e « Seme Chemical Agencies of Electricity,” 
which was aa by him to the Royal Society, Nov. 20, 
1806, and aaa in their Tranfa¢tions for 1807, parti. 
vol. 17. Supplem 
Mr. Davy, after alluding to the experiments | of Peel and 
Pacc} ion l, with 
clay tube. He does not object to the pele oF Os eg 
riment, but thinks the conclufions are obje . Firft, 
becaufe the alkali was only teited by turmeric paber which 
would have affumed the fame appearance _ lime ; and, 
fecondly, that the clay might even contain 
argument of Mr. Davy may very {fufficiently area for 
the alkaline appearances, but he does not even hint how 
the muriatic acid was forme 
r. Davy procured ke agate cups, each oe the 
capacity of about a quarter of a cubic inch. Thefe cups 
were boiled for fome bee in diftilled wat he cups 
svere then filled with diftilled water, and connected together 
with a piece of very white amianthus, previoufly moiltened. 
A piece of platina wire was introduced into each of the cups, 
and conneéted with a battery confifting of +50 pairs of 
plates four inches fquare, and charged with a folution of 
alum. After the procefs had gone on 48 hours, the water 
in the cups was examined, when it was found that the water 
of one of them contained foda, and the other muriatic 
acl 
: 
Mr. Davy repeated the experiment in the fame cups 
— a and found a acid and alkali diminifhed in 
very experiment. By continuing the procefs for thre 
Ae he fai very little alkali; but in the other tube a 
an abundance of acid, which proved to be the nitric acid. 
After thefe refults, he concluded that the agate tubes 
contained fome fubftance capable of affording the acid and 
al But independent of the tubes, he fuppofed that 
the alkali was derived from fome other fource, fince it con- 
tinued to appear to the laft in quantities fufficiently dif- 
tngvitable after every precaution had been obferved 
now eo o pe the purity of the water, 
di It appeared pure by the 
; a 
and foda are aon of can by rapid diftillation, and as 
the water was from the New River, which contains animal 
and vegetable ae he thought that potath or foda might. 
be furnifhed by the neutral falts they contained. 
To do away the objection of the agate tubes, he ined 
ains of 
day but a alkali did not ae 
avy was now of opinion, that the water contained 
Le XV. 
fome fubftance capable .of furnifhing the {mall and limited 
portion of alkali in this experiment... And to be more 
fatisfied of this, -he Beer a quart of the diftilled water 
140° Fahrenheit in a oie il. The 
folid matter was equal to 13,ths of a grain. id not enter 
into a particular analyfis of this refiduum, but heli ved it to 
confift of nitrate of foda and nitrate of lead, fuppofing vl 
latter to have been derived from the worm of the comm 
fill. On filling the gold cones with ng water ufed in the firlt 
experiments, the maximum of e foon produced ; 
but upon ashe fome of ae fade matter obtained 
om the water, in efs than two minutes the effe&ts were 
evident, iy in five minutes it changed turmeric paper to a 
B ba ene a water to a fecond flow eae by 
was obtained fo pure, that when ated upon in the c 
the battery for two 5 eae s, only flight = ia of the sleek 
were evinced, which after heating flrongly for a few eae 
difappeared ; a proof that the alkali was ammonia. Hen 
Mr. Davy concludes that the fixed alkali is not Carel 
the pl ae naa but afforded by the water or other (allan 
employed. 
This indefatigable experimenter made a feries of experi- 
ments, in which he employed cups of different fubftances, 
ubes 
ith the pure water. of wa O potafh, 
foda on one fide, and fulphuric and muriatic acids on the 
other, ith tubes of refin, the alkaline matter was princi- 
ally po Carrara marble afforded lime and a 
alkali, “ the latter decreafed in every experiment, 
nothin t lime was produced. Mr. Davy ufed many 
other Sineral separa from moft of ia he obtained 
more or lefs fixed a 
ad before ae d, that when glafs — were 
employed cn = i alkali was derived ne the gla 0 
ieee ars with 
ae vy 
very experiment a orion of 
nitric acid form ed, and in quantity tiga to the 
length of time the procefs was continued. It appears alfo 
that ae was produced at the fame time, ie its limit 
was foon atta 
Suppofing thle refults to arife from the nitrogen of the 
in the water, he repeated the experi- 
mp, exhauifted to <4. 0 
ie to litmus paper. 
ries, partic 
elements of compou zalvanic procefs. 
took two cups of compac& fulphat of lime, into which | 
into cup was introduced a platina wire connected with 
a battery of 100. pairs of fix-inch plates. . In five minutes 
the liquid in the pofitive cup, we Ae connected with the . 
zinc end, became acidulous, an other contained lime, 
9 fimilar cups of fulphat of pan afforded a fimilay . 
ae the earth being found pure in the negative cup, ‘and 
4G the 
