EEPOETS OF -MEETINGS* 
8l7 
has heen passing for some little time that these become coated* 
or* more properly speaking, Yarnished, by the gases given off : so 
that if the action be continued long enough we obtain a 
secondary battery* in which the current is generated by the 
chemical action of the products of decomposition effected by the 
original battery. The two plates, in fact* act as if they were 
different metals on account of their being coated with different 
gases; and in this condition they are said to he polarised. 
Plante employed plates of lead* through which he passed the 
current for weeks before he obtained a sufficient deposit of oxide 
to give a secondary current. In 1859* M. Faure* who took up 
the matter* conceived the idea of applying the oxide to the 
surface of the metal at the very outset, which has heen attended 
with complete success, and has very greatly lessened the time 
required for charging the cells. His arrangement consists of 
sheets of lead, to which has been applied a coating of oxide* and 
over this again a layer of felt, or some such material* the whole 
being immersed in dilute sulphuric acid. 
At the meeting in December, a paper on Nestor Notabilis* 
a bird of degraded tastes*” was read by Mr. S. H. Swayne* 
M.E.C.S., which appears in the foregoing pages. Mr. B. Lohb 
also contributed a paper on Portishead itself, and the shores 
thereof, with some of its treasures.” At the close, Professor 
Thompson exhibited a number of Swan's lamps* which were 
lighted by means of a Faure's battery. These were intended to 
have heen shown at a previous meeting, but owing to some 
derangement of the apparatus, this was impossible. 
The next meeting was held on the evening of January 6th, 
when Mr. E. Wethered, F.G-.S., F.C.S.* contributed -a paper on 
** Colliery Explosions,” which has already appeared. 
In February, Mr. W. A. Shenstone, F.I.O., communicated a 
paper entitled “ Our Knowledge of the Nature of Chemical 
Phenomena,” which appears in the present Part. 
