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battery, but rather to give such an account as will enable our readers to understand what the arrangement is, and what sort of effect it produces; and with this object we shall at once proceed to describe the battery of Grove, which is perhaps the most efficacious of all the various arrangements for the purpose of producing an electric current. In this battery we have a number of cells connected together, as in Fig. 8, which shows a battery of three cells. Each cell consists of two vessels, an outer and an inner one; the outer vessel being made of glass or ordinary stone ware, while the inner one is made of unglazed porcelain, and is therefore porous. The outer vessel is filled with dilute sulphuric acid, and a plate of amalgamated zinc—that is to say, of metallic zinc having its outer surface brightened with mercury,—is immersed in this acid. Again, in the inner or porous vessel we have strong nitric acid, in which a plate of platinum foil is immersed, this being at the same time electrically connected with the zinc plate of the next outer vessel, by means of a clamp, as in the figure. Both metals must be clean where they are pressed together, that is to say, the true metallic surfaces of both must be in contact. Finally, a wire is metallically connected with the platinum of the left-hand cell, and a similar wire with the
Fig. 8.