298 DR. RITCHIE’S EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCHES IN VOLTAIC ELECTRICITY. 
metal is separated at the negative pole, whilst the oxygen appears at the other 
pole. Now, the specific heats of metals are exceedingly small. The change 
of state, then, from the liquid to the solid, which took place in the negative 
chamber, must have raised the temperature, whilst no such change of state 
took place in the positive compartment. Hence the temperature of the nega¬ 
tive cell must be higher than that of the positive. It is unnecessary to mul¬ 
tiply examples. If we know the specific heats of the substances set at liberty 
in the extreme chambers, we can tell, a priori, which of the compartments 
will have the highest temperature,—which affords the most satisfactory evi¬ 
dence of the accuracy of the explanation given of these interesting phenomena. 
