Experimental investigation of the spirit manifestations, [electronic ...

ArPENDIX. 451dent that, assuming that tlicro is in a galvanized wire a derangement ofthe poles of the eonstitucnt ethereo-ponderablc particles analogous to thatpermanently existing in magnetized steel, involves no contradiction, noabsurdity, nor any thing but what is consistent with the researches andinferences of Davy, Farraday, and other eminent investigators of the phenomenaof nature.Process hy ichich the Etlicreo-pondcrahlc Atoms n'lthin a Galvanic Circuitare 2'>olarizcd hj the Chemical Reaction.58. In order that an ethcreo-ponderable particle of oxygen in anyaqueous solution shall unite with an ethereo-ponderablc particle of zinc ina galvanic pair, there must be a partial revolution of the whole row of ethereoponderablczinc atoms, with which the atom assailed is catenated by theattractions between dissimilar poles; and likewise there must be a seriesof decompositions and recompositions between every atom of water existingin the circuit, an atom of hydrogen being eliminated at one end, an atomof oxygen at the other. The impulse must extend through the negativeplate to the conductor, by which it communicates with the zinc or electropositiveplate. When the circuit is open, the power of combination exercisedby the zinc and oxygen is inadequate to produce this movement in thewhole chain of atoms, liquid and metallic; but as it is indifferent whetherany two atoms are united with each other, or with any other atoms of thesame kind, the chemical force easily causes them to exchange partners, as itwere, when the whole are made to form a circuitous row in due contiguity,*59. As we know that, during their union with oxygen, metals give outan enormous quantity of heat and electricity, it is reasonable to supposethat whenever an atom of oxygen and an atom of zinc jump into unionwith each other, a wave is induced in the ethereo-ponderable matter, andthat this wave is sustained by the decompositions and recompositions, bymeans of which an atom of hydrogen is evolved at the negative plate, andprobably enabled to assume the aeriform state. There must, at the sametime, be a communication of wave polarity by contact of the negative platewith the connecting wire, by which the positive wave in the wire is induced.Although the inherent polarities of the atoms are not, agreeablyto this view, the moving power in galvanism, yet they facilitate, and insome cases induce, the exercise of that power, by enabling it to act at adistance, when otherwise it might be inefficient.60. This, I conceive, is shown in the effect of platina sponge, upon amixture of the gaseous elements of water; also in Groves's gas battery ,_by means of which hydrogen and oxygen gas severally react with water insyphons, so as to cause each other to condense, without any communicationbeside that through the platina, and an electrolytic decomposition and re-* Suppose a number of boys and girls, associated as partners for a dance, to stand upin a row, severally united, and distinguished into couples by tboso joining hands; tbosexes being regularly alternating, so that no two of the same sex should be band in hand.Under these conditions no effort to take a boy from one end of the row, or a girl from theother end, could be effected with the consent of the couples concerned, both partners inwhich would thus be deprived of the power of joining in the dance. But should it bounderstood that only an exchange of partners was all that should be intended, and, consistently,a boy from one end and a girl from the other end of the row, taken simultaneouslyand allowed to form a couple, forthwith, the rest merely shifting their handsfrom one neighbour to another, there would no longer bo the same motive for resistanceand the required exchange might bo cheerfully accomplished.