PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



GEOLOGICAL & POLYTECHNIC SOCIETY 



AT THE THIRTIETH QUARTERLY MEETING, HELD IN THE 

 MANSION HOUSE, DONCASTER, ON FRIDAY, 



OCTOBER 24th, 1845. 



The Right Hon. the Earl Fitzwilliam, F.R.S., President, 

 having taken the Chair, 



A paper was read, of which the following is a summary : — 



ON THE APPLICATION OF ELECTRICITY TO THE ARTS. BY 

 MARTYN J. ROBERTS, ESQ., F.R.S.E., F.R.G.S., ETC. 



He commenced by first showing that galvanism is but 

 another name for electricity generated by chemical action, 

 in distinction from electricity generated by friction, usually 

 called frictional electricity. He then demonstrated by ex- 

 periment, that two metals (one more easily oxidated than 

 the other), if plunged into dilute acid, decomposed the 

 water, and generated a current of electricity ; these two 

 metals thus in action formed a galvanic pair, and if the 

 circuit be completed either by a wire junction of the metals 

 or other conductor of electricity, a current of electricity 

 circulates through the conductor. If this circuit be not 

 homogenous, the points of contact of the various conductors 

 are called poles ; those where the electricity enters is called 

 the negative, those from which it issues, the positive pole. Mr. 

 Roberts then laid down the axiom, that when solutions are 

 decomposed by electricity, that oxygen and the acids go to 

 the positive pole, while hydrogen, metals, and bases of salts, 

 go to the negative pole : this axiom he stated to be the 



