New-York tribune., 1841-12-31

t.inly be a most remarkable fact. To decide this
lie made the following experiment: he passed
the electric fluid through the vessels arrsFsed a.
before ;h- alkali OF the salt IN the outer vessel
ras,ed through the liquid IN the middle vessel to
the other extremity. Now 10 determine whether
the wafer in the yr-sel contained alka he applied
tie a.ua! te>:s and found that there not the
.ish.cs- lad cation OF is presence lie went far
iher-he reversed the experiment and made the
acid pass through the middle vessel but the water
gave so noce Of the presence OF acid He applied
the mo-, delicate tests but could se; ne indication
oi aav ac:i IN tie middle vessel Use eject which
would Instantly 5e prqduccdii there were 20 cleo
,rica agency in this experiment. was totally lacking
IN presence of th;s magical influence.
N0w you u ask for the reason OF these remark
ale iac;s- Can they not be accounted for-is
there 10 1av To explain them There * not: III
philosopher. 20 faI a know, has arrived n
any taiag more than the naked fact. All that l.
knowu i, ;his that when natural bodie, are under
the influence Of electricity they behave themselves
yerv cii;-reatly from what they DO in their sober
senses.
Nothing can BE- more ielictous than tina, philo-
Saahca! instinct which eaahies observers n avail
themselves Of thr accidental circumstances which
ari.e IN the course OF their isquries. Every one
who ma ever engaged IN philosophical inye>tlga-
tons must nave experienced iAat when he has been
hunting after some fancied truth. accidental cir
cum-;aaces have pressed upon hi attention which,
II tdl.y considered, would De 10 Dc OF infinitely
greater Importance then Tie truth OF which he Wa,
In s-atch. This occurred in the case Of D,vY, N
the ,rves,i- -a,l5u 20 which have made Alu>ou
aud ao5y did he profit BY these accidental hints
or | would rather regard them as proFlPtugs OF
Him whose N!.l 1t !, that knowledge should pro-
crc>S.
told yol that when D,rY observed the circun-
stances attending the decomposition OF water by
ths action OF the saIyanic wires he fUnud an acid
evolved in the agate cup When gold WAS sub,ti
tu,ed instead OF agate little or acid was evolved
SAID he. Q, zee the cause of this, the acid
comes from the dccom position Of the agate cup.
Thus would nny one have said, and ordinary
mind would have passed ii By as an accidental cir
cum.tancc OF no moment. But DAvY saw in this
accident the germ Of probably the greatest disco
very of modern times. IT,, said he. the power
Of the electric current be irresistible. 30 omuip
otent, - - tear asundqr the elements OF agate,
what effect may We not anticipate II wc apply tins
to substances which have never vet Welded To the
anal yitic power The idea took possession OF his
inind-that the attraction OF the positive and mega
i've poles ot the battery for certain elements OF bo
dies that which took the scid and Ikali the fur
:hcr vessel in h- experiment the same pow
crul inllac &C that dccomposcd the clesentS of
agate; and he let MS mind until hG had
brought 20 bear upon this point. Accordingly.
n hi, first eXperimSn- using cups of various met
s'- he found he had most powerful agent to play
with. After much pondering and deep reflection
upon this. he arrived at thi, conclusion-that suo
stance. oa,, Led As alkaline and earthly in all prob
/ ,l,ti tiirt. hat fbo of het
# not sll. which had previously been deemed SIM
pie substances, he had a deeply rooted convic ton
might be dcccmpO,ed If he could bring to besr
upon them the pole, Of a sufficiently powerful vol
taic apparatus to their element. a>under. The
first substance which he submitted te experiment,
with l view this belief. was potash: and there
/ recorded no more elegant and lucd experiment,
nor have any results been more important. He
took small quantity of potash and placed upon
platinum spa,ua or Disc. He wished now to
transmit the electric current through it, and for
that purpose placed the positive wire AZ one side
and the negative At the other, expecting that its
elements would yield to the opposite force and be
decomposcd.
But in It's dry state it would not pass, nor
could the current be transmitted unless aids
could be procured to assist It's conducting power
Inc nrst suggestion was 10 dissolve 1t in the water
He did this and submitted the solution to the
ton of tie Notaic pile; ba; he found that this
most hayward agent had preferences. just a- bodc,
had axes OF preference aruund whics alone they
would r,vc,:. The electricity would sclhe upon
some substances in preference to Others when two
or motc present. nor would it attend TO more
than one AT tncc. And when it was transmitted
through the solution the thing it dccomPosed was
the water and not the potash and the only effect
OF the galvanic action !ccompJ- portion
Of the water and thus leave the solution OF potash
stronger than bcfor-. Davy next attempted to
render the potash fluid since any liqld, he well
knew, wous transmit the csrrcnt more readily
than solid He procured platinum spoon, put
into 1t small quantity of pure potash and exposed
II To The fam" Of a lamp blown upon by oxygen
gas. When the potash was melted, he put the
opposite sides of the spoon IN contact with The
oppo,ite poles OF a battery. The Instant a com
m.ncut;on Nas found, when the metal spoon wns
positive and The wire inserted in the liquid wa'
negative, a vivid, sparkling flame arose from the
wlrc, and from the spoon issued gaseous sub
stance and escaped into the air. DAvY at once
supposed that the potash had been decomPosed,
but that the constituent part which escaped at the
negative pole was 80 combuStibe that ut the heat
required it Immediately took fire.
Tsis conclusion was perfectly correct; buthe had
y-t failed seize aHd submit The element to exam
nation. Another experiment still 10 be tried
His final experiment this, lie took a small
quantity OF potash. and by exposing it the mois-
otthe atmos pherc, he gotta coating Of moisture
upon its surface. Thi- gave 20 it sufficient con-
dIctne power. and he again placed it up-n the
platinum disc in communication wiki the negative
poles of voac battery, while upon the surface of
the potash he applied the positive wire-and what
VA. the Icsul; This: n tie upper snrtace Of
ne goStie- Poie, there 'ccre emitted jubbieS Of
z1s: cbiie oatt platinum rere de posted metal
Lc gi0jnles hariag the appearance Of qaickstl