mid some other animal Fluids. 375 
and pure water ; this was connected with the other two, con- 
taining pure water, by filaments of moistened cotton. The 
water in one of the cups was rendered positive, that in the 
other negative, by a Volta rc battery of one hundred and 
twenty four inch double plates, charged with a solution of 
nitro-muriatic acid, in the proportion of one part of the mixed 
acid to thirty parts of water.* By continuing this process, I 
hoped to decompose the saline ingredients of the saliva, to 
collect the acid matter in the positive, and the alkaline matter 
in the negative cup, and thus to leave the mucus and albumen 
In the centre vessel (free from the salts which they contain 
in their natural state ) , and to have separated them by boiling 
distilled water, which would then have afforded a solution of 
pure mucus. 
When the action of the battery had been continued for about 
ten minutes, a considerable quantity of a white substance, sur- 
rounded, and adhered to, the cotton on the negative side of 
the circuit, whereas on the positive side no such effect had 
taken place. 
I could not at first account for this appearance, conceiving 
that if it depended on the coagulation of albumen held in so- 
lution in the saliva, it would have taken place at the positive 
pole, in consequence of the acid there separated. 
To ascertain this point, an experiment was made on the 
albumen of an egg. 
When the conductors from the same battery were brought 
within two inches of each other in this fluid, an immediate 
and rapid coagulation took place at the negative wire, while 
* It was conceived, that this electrical power, though sufficient for the decomposi- 
tion of the salts, would not materially affect the animal matter. 
3C2 
