208 



Mr. J. A. Kendall. 



[Jan. 17, 



January 17, 1884. 



THE PRESIDENT in the Chair. 



The Presents received were laid on the table, and thanks ordered 

 for them. 



The following Papers were read : — 



I. " On a New Method of Generating Electricity." By J. A. 

 Kexdall, F.I.C., F.C.S. Communicated by Professor G. G. 

 Stokes, Sec. R.S. Received September 30, and Decem- 

 ber 28, 1883. 



In 1863 Deville and Troost announced their discovery that certain 

 metals were permeable by hydrogen at a red heat. This discovery, 

 as is well known, was verified by Graham, who made extended 

 researches on the subject. 



About three years ago it occurred to the author that a red-hot 

 platinum plate, through which hydrogen was passing, might be made 

 to serve as an element of a galvanic combination, and early in 1881 

 some experiments were tried with this object. 



These were continued from time to time up to the presert, and in 

 this paper it is proposed to give some account of the experiments and 

 their results. The subject appears to the author to require much 

 more extended researches in several directions than he has been able 

 to make, but it is hoped that by giving an account of the researches 

 hitherto made, the points which require further investigation will 

 suggest themselves to physicists and chemists. 



In the earlier experiments the author constructed small tubes of 

 platinum foil. These were sealed up at one end by the oxyhydrogen 

 blowpipe, and to the open ends glass tubes were fused. Platinum 

 conducting wires were fastened to the tubes. By means of the glass 

 tubes gases could be conveyed to the interior of the platinum 

 tubes. 



A platinum crucible was used as the other element of the cell, it 

 had a platinum conducting wire attached, and was supported over a 

 Bunsen burner. A small platinum foil tube was then held in the 

 centre of the crucible, and the cell was completed by putting the 

 transmitting medium into the crucible. After unsuccessful trials with 

 alkaline nitrates, &c, glacial phosphoric acid was selected. Some of 



