418 
ON CHEMISTRY. 
sopher, for the identification of electric, with chemical action : he 
detected phenomena, which led him to the conclusion, (to use the 
words of Dr. Paris in his life of Davy) “That the evolution of light 
and heat cannot be ascribed simply to a gas parting with its latent 
store of etherial fluids,” and “That, since all bodies which act pow¬ 
erfully upon each other are in opposite electrical relations of positive 
and negative, the evolution of heat and light may depend upon the 
annihilation of these opposite states, which will happen whenever 
they combine.” 
Respecting highly the authority of the great deceased; and (on 
the points just referred to in the quotations) agreeing with him as 
far as we identify what is termed electricity and electrical , I still 
cannot bow down, and consent to be restricted to that authority. He 
cleared the way to a more refined philosophy, .and truth is daily be¬ 
coming more manifest. To render this apparent, I shall refer to 
what 1 mentioned in my answer to correspondents at page 239, 
( Hort . Reg. May) of the discovery by the successor, to Sir Hum¬ 
phrey Davy, the amiable Dr. Faraday. T have another motive for 
recurring to the notice concerning this gentleman; which is, to cau¬ 
tion any reader against placing confidence, even in the scientific no¬ 
tices of the newspapers, or periodical journals. I had read in more 
than one of these, an account of the all-pervading “etherial fluid 
discovered by Dr. F. which, fluid acted, or became revealed in cer¬ 
tain definite proportions. I carried my determination into effect, 
and wrote to that gentleman. The exaggeration of the public report 
was immediately apparent; but the importance of the discovery ac¬ 
tually made, will be so also. I copy the Doctor’s own words, as be¬ 
longing to general science, and not to me individually. In the first 
instance the word “ etherial,” is a misprint of electrical, for all the 
Professors’ researches lately, have related to Electricity. “ I have 
not given a strong opinion” (he observes) “on the point of one fluid, 
but I do not see a single experiment or fact which proves the exis¬ 
tence of two electric fluids rather than one.”—“What I have lately 
done is to shew that the chemical action of Electricity is 'perfectly 
definite, as definite indeed as the action of ponderable agents : Thus, 
I have devised and perfected an instrument by which we can mea¬ 
sure voltaic electricity, and then measuring out the electricity, I 
find that a constant quantity will decompose exactly, equivalents of 
various compounds however dissimilar in their particular nature 
they may be.” 
This is the bare fact—the sum and substance of the discovery, and 
very grand it is : it is a vast point gained; but it does not immedi- 
