chemical Age?icies of Electricity. 39 
tive and repellent agencies seem to be communicated from the 
metallic surfaces throughout the whole of the menstruum. 
VIII. On the Relations between the electrical Energies of Bodies , 
and their chemical Affinities. 
As the chemical attraction between two bodies seems to be 
destroyed by giving one of them an electrical state different 
from that which it naturally possesses ; that is, by bringing 
it artificially into a state similar to the other, so it may be 
increased by exalting its natural energy. Thus, whilst zinc, 
one of the most oxidable of the metals, is incapable of com- 
bining with oxygene when negatively electrified in the circuit, 
even by a feeble power ; silver, one of the least oxidable, easily 
unites to it when positively electrified ; and the same thing 
might be said of other metals. 
Amongst the substances that combine chemically, all those, 
the electrical energies of which are well known, exhibit op- 
posite states ; thus, copper and zinc, gold and quicksilver, 
sulphur and the metals, the acid and alkaline substances, 
afford apposite instances ; and supposing perfect freedom of 
motion in their particles or elementary matter, they ought, 
according to the principles laid down, to attract each other in 
consequence of their electrical powers. In the present state 
of our knowledge, it would be useless to attempt to speculate 
on the remote cause of the electrical energy, or the reason 
why different bodies, after being brought into contact, should 
be found differently electrified ; its relation to chemical affinity 
is, however, sufficiently evident. May it not be identical with 
it, and an essential property of matter ? 
