C 3 * 3 
II. An Account of some Experiments , performed with a View to 
ascertain the most advantageous Method of constructing a Vol- 
taic Apparatus , for the Purposes of Chemical Research. By 
John George Children, Esq. F.R. S. 
Read November 24, 1808. 
T he late interesting discoveries by Mr. Davy, having shewn 
the high importance of the Voltaic battery, as an instrument 
of chemical analysis, it became a desirable object to ascertain 
that mode of constructing it, by which the greatest effect may 
be produced, with the least waste of power and expense. 
For this purpose, I made a battery, on the new method, 
with plates of copper and zinc, connected together by leaden 
straps, soldered on the top of each pair of plates ; which are 
twenty in number, and each plate four feet high, by two feet 
wide : the sum of all the surfaces being 92160 square inches, 
exclusive of the single plate at each end of the battery. The 
trough is made of wood, with wooden partitions well cover- 
ed with cement, to render them perfectly tight, so that no 
water can flow from one cell to another. The battery was 
charged with a mixture of three parts fuming nitrous, and 
one part sulphuric acid, diluted with thirty parts of water, and 
the quantity used was 120 gallons. 
In the presence, and with the kind assistance of Messrs. 
Davy, Allen, and Pepys, the following experiments were 
made. 
