A new theory of galvanism : supported by some experiments and observations made by means of the calorimotor, a new galvanic instrument ; also, a new mode of decomposing potash extemporaneously ; read before the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia / by Robert Hare, M.D. ; ... accompanied by an engraving.

  • Hare, Robert, 1781-1858.
Date:
1819
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A new theory of galvanism : supported by some experiments and observations made by means of the calorimotor, a new galvanic instrument ; also, a new mode of decomposing potash extemporaneously ; read before the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia / by Robert Hare, M.D. ; ... accompanied by an engraving. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    tides of the same mass. The disposition of the last mentioned principle to get off by neighbouring con- ductors, and of the other to combine with the adjoin- ing matter or to escape by radiation, would prevent them from being collected at the positive pole, if not in combination with each other. Were it not for a modification of their properties, consequent to some such union, they could not, in piles of thousands of pairs, be carried forward through the open air and moisture ; the one so well calculated to conduct away electricity, the other so favourable to the radiation of caloric. Pure electricity does not expand the slips of gold leaf, between which it causes repulsion, nor does ca- loric cause any repulsion in the ignited masses which it expands. But as the compound fluid extricated by Galvanic action, which I shall call electro-caloric, dis- tributes itself through the interior of bodies, and is evidently productive of corpuscular repulsion, it is in this respect more allied to caloric, than to electricity. It is true, that when common electricity causes the deflagration of metals, as by the discharge of a Ley den jar, it must be supposed to insinuate itself within them, and cause a re-action between their particles. But in this case, agreeably to my hypothesis, the elec- tric fluid combines with the latent caloric previously existing there, and, adding to its repulsive agency, causes it to overpower cohesion. Sir Humphrey Davy was so much at a loss to ac- count for the continued ignition of wire at the poles of