TRACT No. 1.

ON

ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY,

WITH

POSITIVE RESULTS;

AND

NOTES ON THE TWO ELECTRICITIES.*

1. ARE the two electricities material elements? The late Dr. Turner, in his Elements of Chemistry, states that the "effects of electricity are so similar to those of a mechanical agent-it appears so distinctly to emanate from substances which contain it in excess, and rends asunder all obstacles in its course so exactly like a body in rapid motion, that the impression of its existence as a distinct material substance, sui generis, forces itself irresistibly on the

mind.

All nations, accordingly, have spontaneously concurred in regarding electricity as a material principle and scientific men give a preference to the

;

same view."

I

*

The substance of this tract is embodied in a pamphlet which published at the close of 1849, entitled, "Thoughts on Elec

tricity."

B

2. If electricity is regarded by scientific men as a material principle, how comes it that they have made it an exception to the other material elements, by assuming, without proof, that it does not combine with those elements, as those elements combine with each other? It cannot be because of its imponderability, as heat, an imponderable element, is known to enter into chemical combination with the ponderable elements of nature.

3. Is it so, that the two electricities are material elements, and that they are not an exception to the common law; that they combine with the other material elements as those elements combine with each other; and that compound bodies are decomposed by the two electricities precisely as the ponderable elements decompose those bodies—namely, by respectively combining with the constituents of the body which is under decomposition; and thus in all electro decompositions, those bodies which are given off at the positive wire, are given off in combination with the positive electricity of that wire, and those given off at the negative wire are given off in combination with the negative electricity of that wire? And, therefore, when a compound body is decomposed by electricity, we do not obtain the constituents of that body, but new compounds-the two

electricities having respectively combined with the constituents of the body which has been decomposed. Accordingly, in the decomposition of a neutral salt by electricity, we do not obtain the constituents of that body, but new compounds. One of the constituents of the salt having combined with positive electricity, a compound is formed, possessing properties different from either of the constituents, an acid ⚫ being the product: the other constituent of the salt having combined with negative electricity, a compound is formed, possessing properties different from either of the constituents-an alkali being the product; and in order to obtain the constituents of the decomposed salt, we would require to disunite positive electricity from the acid, and negative electricity from the alkali.

4. My first experiment in corroboration of these views was made eight years ago, an account of which was published at the close of 1849. Aware that heat impairs the affinity which subsists between the constituents of a compound body; "that in the highest conceivable degrees of heat, chemical combination does not take place;" and that, in some instances, compound bodies, such as ammonia, the peroxide of manganese, the oxide of chlorine, and the oxides of mercury, silver and gold, are decomposed

by heat, I therefore inferred, that were two bodies, the one united with positive and the other with negative electricity, subjected to an intense heat, the two electricities, viewed as material elements, would have their affinities for the bodies with which they were in combination so loosened or impaired, that they would unite when connected with each other by means of a platinum wire, or any other conductor of electricity. With this view I employed a cast iron tray, twelve inches in length, ten in width, and three in depth. I covered the bottom of

the tray with a mixture of plaster of Paris and finely-sifted coal-ash, and upon the surface of this mixture I placed two thick glass tubes, hermetically sealed, the one containing a portion of the chlorate of potassa, and another an equivalent quantity of potassium. These tubes were connected internally