PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 
VIII. On the Gas Voltaic Battery. — Experiments made with a view of ascertaining the 
rationale of its action and its application to Eudiometry. 
By W. R. Grove, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., Prof. Exp. Phil., London Institution. 
Received March 27, — Read May 11, 1843. 
In the Philosophical Magazine for December 1842, I have published an account of 
a voltaic battery in which the active ingredients were gases, and by which the decom- 
position of water was effected by means of its composition. 
The battery described in that paper consisted of a series of tubes containing strips 
of platinum foil covered with a pulverulent deposit of the same metal ; the platinum 
passed through the upper parts of the tubes, which were closed with cement, the 
lower extremities were open ; they were arranged in pairs in separate vessels of dilute 
sulphuric acid, and of each pair one tube was charged with oxygen, the other with 
hydrogen gas, in quantities such as would allow the platinum to touch the dilute 
acid ; the platinum in the oxygen of one pair was metallically connected with the 
platinum in the hydrogen of the next, and a voltaic series of fifty pairs was thus 
formed. With this battery the following effects were produced : — 
1st. A shock was given which could be felt by five persons joining hands. 
2nd. The needle of a moderately sensitive galvanometer was whirled round and 
remained permanently deflected 60°. 
3rd. A gold-leaf electroscope was notably affected. 
4th. A brilliant spark visible in broad day-light was given between charcoal points. 
5th. Iodide of potassium, hydrochloric acid, and water acidulated with sulphuric 
acid were severally decomposed ; the gas from the decomposed water was collected 
and detonated. The gases were evolved in the direction which the chemical theory 
would indicate, the hydrogen travelling in one direction throughout the circuit, and 
the oxygen in the reverse. 
When distilled was substituted for acidulated water in the battery cells, the effects 
were similar but more feeble. 
MDCCCXLIII. 
O 
