Note 2 bis — Chapter XIV · THE VALENCY AND SPECIFIC HEAT OF THE METALS. MAGNESIUM. CALCIUM, STRONTIUM, BARIUM, AND BERYLLIUM

The amount of electricity in one coulomb according to the present nomenclature of electrical units (see Works on Physics and Electro-technology) disengages 0·00001036 gram of hydrogen, 0·00112 gram of silver, 0·0003263 gram of copper from the salts of the oxide, and 0·0006526 gram from the salts of the suboxide, &c. These amounts stand in the same ratio as the equivalents, i.e. as the quantities replaced by one part by weight of hydrogen. The intimate bond which is becoming more and more marked existing between the electrolytic and purely chemical relations of substances (especially in solutions) and the application of electrolysis to the preparation of numerous substances on a large scale, together with the employment of electricity for obtaining high temperatures, &c., makes me regret that the plan and dimensions of this book, and the impossibility of giving a concise and objective exposition of the necessary electrical facts, prevent my entering upon this province of knowledge, although I consider it my duty to recommend its study to all those who desire to take part in the further development of our science.

There is only one side of the subject respecting the direct correlation between thermochemical data and electro-motive force, which I think right to mention here, as it justifies the general conception, enunciated by Faraday, that the galvanic current is an aspect of the transference of chemical motion or reaction along the conductors.

From experiments conducted by Favre, Thomsen, Garni, Berthelot, Cheltzoff, and others, upon the amount of heat evolved in a closed circuit, it follows that the electro-motive force of the current or its capacity to do a certain work, E, is proportional to the whole amount of heat, Q, disengaged by the reaction forming the source of the current. If E be expressed in volts, and Q in thousands of units of heat referred to equivalent weights, then E = 0·0436Q. For example in a Daniells battery E = 1·09 both by experiment and theory, because in it there takes place the decomposition of CuSO₄ into Cu + O together with the formation of Zn + O and ZnO + SO₃Aq, and these reactions correspond to Q = 25·06 thousand units of heat. So also in all other primary batteries (e.g. Bunsen's, Poggendorff's, &c.) and secondary ones (for instance, those acting according to the reaction Pb + H₂SO₄ + PbO₂, as Cheltzoff showed) E = 0·0436Q.