50 MR. GASSIOT ON THE RELATION OF ELECTRICAL AND CHEMICAL ACTIONS 
dues not take place in the oxygen tubes until electrolysis commences ; and we have 
thus the most correct means of defining our results. 
41. With hydrogen and chlorine, signs of tension were obtained with a series of six 
pairs of cells. 
42. With chlorine in a single tube, and amalgamated zinc as the positive element, 
a combination by which, as Grove has shown *, one pair will decompose water, a 
series of two pairs affected the electroscope. 
43. Having thus elicited that for the purpose of obtaining static effects with a gas 
battery, it is indispensable that the two gases employed be capable of entering into 
chemical combination with each other, and having found that the higher the state of 
their mutual chemical affinities, the less was the number of series required to pro- 
duce static effects, my attention naturally reverted to the older forms of the voltaic 
battery. I allude to those having' two metallic elements excited by acid solutions. 
44. Ten of the glass cells of the water battery (5.) were filled with dilute sulphuric 
acid. In each cell I placed a small porous earthenware vessel, also filled with the 
same solution. The metallic elements in this arrangement were amalgamated zinc 
and platinum ; the latter being placed in the porous vessels, each cell was carefully 
insulated. This arrangement affected the leaves of the electroscope (fig. 6), while it 
required sixteen series of the water battery (5.) to produce the same effect. 
45. The dilute acid was then removed from the porous vessels, and these were re- 
filled with strong nitric acid, forming the well-known nitric acid battery of Grove. 
Three series of this arrangement affected the electroscope, and with the assistance of 
a Zamboni’s pile, distinct signs of tension could be elicited from a single pair ; the pla- 
tinum showing vitreous and the zinc resinous electricity. 
From the preceding experiments it appears, that to obtain evidence of tension, the 
principal requisite is good insulation, and that this condition being fulfilled, the most 
energetic chemical battery will exhibit signs of tension before the completion of the 
circuit with a smaller series than that which is merely excited with rain water (44. 45.). 
Conclusion. 
The deductions which I make from the experiments described in this paper are 
as follows : — 
1st. That the elements constituting the voltaic battery assume polar tension before 
the circuit is complete (10. 11. 15.) even in a single cell (45.) ; and that the existence 
of this polar state is demonstrated by the action on the electroscope being different 
at each terminal of the battery. 
2nd. That this tension, when exalted by a series of pairs, is such, that a suc- 
cession of sparks will pass between the terminals of the battery before their actual 
contact (16. 32.). 
3rd. That these static effects precede, and are independent of, the completion of 
* Philosophical Transactions, 1843, p. 103, Note. 
