890 
Zambonrs New Binary Galvanic Pile. 
Another pile of discs of tinned paper, having the paper face 
covered with a film of honey, in order to keep up a constant 
humidity, likewise gave signs of electricity, but it required from 
forty to fifty discs to produce the same degree of electricity as 
the preceding pile of ten discs of tinned paper ; and the electri- 
city was besides of an opposite character, the honey being vi- 
treously, and the tin resinously, electrified. On the following 
day the electricity had rapidly diminished, and at last it com- 
pletely disappeared, the paper having been penetrated through- 
out with the honey, and the tin being equally in contact by its 
two surfaces with the latter substance. 
A pile of discs of tinned paper, in which all the discs had 
be^ glued together, gave no electrical in dications, because the 
metal was equally in contact with the paper at each of its faces. 
When a binary pile, like any of the preceding, has become 
inactive, its energy may be restored, by simply raising the discs, 
which, by the action of the air, will diminish the influence of 
humidity upon one of the faces of each disc. The binary piles 
indeed do not produce any effect, unless the touching surfaces 
of the metallic and the fluid element are unequal. 
The energy of the binary piles is much influenced by the 
conducting power of the fluid which forms the humid element. 
A few drops of a solution of sal ammoniac added to the distilled 
water, augments a little the electricity of the pile ; but if we 
continue to add more, a diminution of action takes place, and at 
last the energy of the pile is destroyed. Hence, it follows, that 
the humid element must be an imperfect conductor. 
Art. XXXI , — Account of a Remarkable Comxt which has re- 
turned to our System in 1786, 1795, 1801, 1805 and 18i| 
There are few events in the natural world, which excite a 
more general interest than the appearance of remarkable comets. 
Associated by the vulgar with the physical and political convul- 
sions of our globe, and regarded by astronomers as capable of 
producing the most overwhelming effects in their passage across 
• This article is drawn up principally from letters of Baron Von Zach addressed 
to one of our correspondents. — Ed. 
