44 
Mr. Davy’s Lecture on some 
the new compound in a neutral state. This would seem to be 
the case in the instance just quoted ; and in the circumstances 
of the union of the strong alkalies and acids. But where one 
energy is feeble and the other strong, all the effects must be 
less vivid ; and the compound, instead of being neutral, ought 
to exhibit the excess of the stronger energy. 
This last idea is confirmed by all the experiments which I 
have been able to make on the energies of the saline com- 
pounds with regard to the metals. Nitrate and sulphate of 
potash, muriate of lime, oxymuriate of potash, though re- 
peatedly touched upon a large surface by plates of copper 
and zinc, gave no electrical charge to them ; subcarbonate of 
soda and borax, on the contrary, gave a slight negative 
charge, and alum and superphosphate of lime a feeble positive 
charge. 
Should this principle on further enquiry be found to apply 
generally, the degree of the electrical energies of bodies, 
ascertained by means of sensible instruments, will afford new 
and useful indications of their composition. 
IX. On the Mode of Action on the Pile of Volta, with experi- 
mental Elucidations. 
The great tendency of the attraction of the different che- 
mical agents, by the positive and negative surfaces in the 
Voltaic apparatus, seems to be to restore the electrical equi- 
librium. In a Voltaic battery, composed of copper, zinc, and 
solution of muriate of soda, all circulation of the electricity 
ceases, the equilibrium is restored if copper be brought in 
contact with the zinc on both sides : and oxygene and acids. 
