Noji-metallic Elementary Bodies. 423 



in these cases no gas is given off' for some little time. Ob- 

 serving this, it was a matter of great interest to know what 

 became of the gas for the first few seconds, and it directly 

 occurred that the first portions of gas were bound down in a 

 nascent state with the charcoal : this was proved by placing it 

 in a solution of sulphate of copper, when the charcoal and the 

 coke became coated with a thin film of the metal. In the 

 same way gold, silver, mercury, and lead were precipitated 

 from their solutions, and iodine set free from iodic acid. Pro- 

 bably the other metals were also precipitated, but their co- 

 lours render a thin film difficult to be distinguished. When 

 charcoal or the poi'ous coke is made to form the electrodes of 

 a battery, the piece forming the kathode or platinode is found 

 to have similar properties ; but the anode or zincode, how- 

 ever, is found to possess nascent oxygen from its liberating 

 chlorine from muriatic acid, though this is not quite so satis- 

 factory as the experiment with the hydrogen. The gas coke 

 and plumbago are found not to possess the property of re- 

 taining the gases. Occasionally charcoal will be found to 

 precipitate gold and silver from their solutions, but in these 

 cases copper, and those metals whicii have a greater affinity 

 for oxygen, are not reduced. 



View the importance of these experiments, as they demon- 

 stratively prove that which has hitherto been the prevailing 

 theory, namely, that nascent hydrogen precipitates the metals, 

 and that the precipitation may take place when the galvanic 

 current is broken ; for the coke will retain its hydrogen in 

 some cases for forty-eight or more hours. Now in what state 

 is the hydrogen when it has these properties? Is it in the 

 form of minute bubbles adhering to the surface? This would 

 appear to be a mystery. It is probably in a state analogous 

 to solution ; for if a piece of smooth platinum be placed in 

 contact with zinc till minute bubbles are covering its whole 

 surface, and then the zinc be removed and a solution of a 

 metal be poured upon the platinum in such a way that the 

 bubbles are not disturbed, no precipitation takes place ; and 

 even spongy platinum or spongy palladium fails under the 

 same circumstances to precipitate the metal. 



Much difficulty arises in naming the two poles of a battery; 

 they are called the positive end and the negative end, the 

 anode and the kathode, the platinode and zincode ; now as 

 each pole of a simple battery becomes reversed if the battery 

 is doubled, it is better to name the tvvo ends from the oxyo-en 

 and hydrogen; since we have shown that the galvanic cur- 

 rent owes its power of decomposing many substances entirely 

 to these gases. The names which are proposed are the ox- 



