XXII. Experiments on the chemical production and agency of electricity

Abstract

Notwithstanding the power of Mr. Volta’s electric pile is now known to be proportional to the disposition of one of the metals to be oxidated by the fluid interposed, a doubt has been entertained by many persons, whether this power arises from the chemical action of the fluid on the metal, or, on the contrary, whether the oxidation itself may not be occasioned by electricity, set in motion by the contact of metals that have different conducting powers. That the oxidation of the metal is the primary cause of the electric phænomena observed, is, I think, to be inferred from the following experiments, which exhibit the Galvanic process reduced to its most simple state.