Page:Experimental researches in electricity.djvu/342

316 quantity of electricity is at all increased or affected by the combination of the oxide with the acid (668, 680), still the latter circumstance cannot go altogether for nothing. The researches of Mr. Daniell on the nature of compound electrolytes ties together the electrolysation of a salt and the water in which it is dissolved, in such a manner as to make it almost certain that, in the corresponding cases of the formation of a salt at the place of excitement in the voltaic circuit, a similar connection between the water and the salt formed must exist: and I have little doubt that the joint action of water, acids, and bases, in Becquerel's battery, in Daniell's electrolysations, and at the zinc in the ordinary active pile, are, in principle, closely connected together.