was browned, declaring the presence of the alkali soda.
The dissolved salt, therefore, arranged in this fashion, was decomposed
by the machine, exactly as it would have been by the voltaic
current. When instead of using the positive conductor he used the
negative, the positions of the acid and alkali were reversed.
Thus he satisfied himself that chemical decomposition by the machine
is obedient to the laws which rule decomposition by the pile.

And now he gradually abolishes those so-called poles, to the
attraction of which electric decomposition had been ascribed.
He connected a piece of turmeric paper moistened with the sulphate
of soda with the positive conductor of his machine; then he placed a
metallic point in connection with his discharging train opposite the
moist paper, so that the electricity should discharge through the
air towards the point. The turning of the machine caused the
corners of the piece of turmeric paper opposite to the point to turn
brown, thus declaring the presence of alkali. He changed the
turmeric for litmus paper, and placed it, not in connection with his
conductor, but with his discharging train, a metallic point
connected with the conductor being fixed at a couple of inches from
the paper; on turning the machine, acid was liberated at the edges
and corners of the litmus. He then placed a series of pointed
pieces of paper, each separate piece being composed of two halves,
one of litmus and the other of turmeric paper, and all moistened
with sulphate of soda, in the line of the current from the machine.
The pieces of paper were separated from each other by spaces of air.
The machine was turned; and it was always found that at the point
where the electricity entered the paper, litmus was reddened, and at
the point where it quitted the paper, turmeric was browned. 'Here,'
he urges, 'the poles are entirely abandoned, but we have still