chemical Agencies of Electricity. 37 
On the general principle, oxygene and hydrogene ought 
to possess, with regard to the metals respectively, the nega- 
tive and positive energy. This I have not been able to prove 
by direct experiments of contact; but the idea is confirmed 
by the agency of their compounds ; thus I have found that 
solution of sulphuretted hydrogene in water acts in the elec- 
trical apparatus composed of single plates and different strata 
of fluids, in the same manner as alkaline solutions ; and that 
solution of oxymuriatic acid is more powerful in similar ar- 
rangements than solutions of muriatic acid of a higher degree 
of concentration ; and in both these cases, it is impossible to 
conceive the combined hydrogene and oxygene inactive. The 
inference likewise is fully warranted by the case of the 
solutions of alkaline hydroguretted sulphurets, which con- 
sisting principally of alkali and sulphur together in union with 
water, exhibit the positive energy with regard to the metals 
in a very high degree. In the series of experiments on 
Voltaic arrangements constructed with single plates above- 
mentioned, I found the solutions of hydroguretted sulphurets 
in general much more active than alkaline solutions, and par- 
ticularly active with copper, silver, and lead. And in an 
experiment that I made on a combination of copper, iron, and 
hydroguretted sulphurets of potash, in 1802, I found that the 
positive energy of the hydroguretted sulphurets with regard 
to the copper was sufficient to overpower that of the iron ; so 
that the electricity did not circulate from the copper to the 
iron, and from the iron to the fluid, as in common cases, but 
from the copper to the hydroguretted sulphuret, and from 
the hydroguretted sulphuret to the iron. 
All these details afford the strongest confirmation of the 
