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VIII. The Bakerian Lecture. On certain motions produced in fluid 
conductors when transmitting the electric current. By J. F.W. 
Herschel, Esq. F. R. S. 
Read February 12, 1824. 
i- Having had occasion, in the course of some enquiries 
respecting the decomposing agency of the Voltaic pile, to 
electrify mercury in contact with various saline solutions, I 
was surprised to observe motions take place in the fluid metal 
of a violent and apparently capricious kind, for which, as I 
had uniformly operated with very feeble electric powers, 
there seemed no adequate cause. Frequently it would be 
agitated with convulsive starts ; sometimes currents and 
eddies of great violence would be formed in it ; at others, it 
would spread and elongate itself, ramifying out into the most 
irregular forms ; and altogether presenting appearances of a 
nature so singular, as induced me to make experiments with 
a view to ascertain their cause, or at least the circumstances 
essential to their reproduction. 
2. The singular convulsive agitations into which mercury is 
thrown when placed within the circuit of a powerful Voltaic 
battery discharged through water, has been noticed by Sir 
H. Davy, in his Elements of Chemical Philosophy. Pure 
water, however, is so very imperfect a conductor, that great 
Voltaic powers must be used ; and the phenomena are then 
too irregular, and the agitations too violent for distinctness. 
