The disturbance of electric equilibrium, and a development of electricity, invariably accompany the chemical action of a fluid on metallic substances, and the electricity is most plentiful when that action occasions oxidation. Metals vary in the quantity of electricity afforded by their combination with oxygen. But the greatest abundance is developed by the oxidation of zinc by weak sulphuric acid. And, in conformity with the law that one kind of electricity cannot be evolved without an equal quantity of the other being brought into activity, it is found that the acid is positively, and the zinc negatively electric. It has not yet been ascertained why equilibrium is not restored by the contact of these two substances, which are both conductors, and in opposite electrical states. However, the electrical and chemical changes are so connected, that, unless equilibrium be restored, the action of the acid will go on languidly, or stop as soon as a certain quantity of electricity is accumulated in it. Equilibrium, nevertheless, will be restored, and the action of the acid will be continuous, if a plate of copper be placed in contact with the zinc, both being immersed in the fluid; for the copper, not being acted upon by the acid, will serve as a conductor to convey the positive electricity from the acid to the zinc, and will at every instant restore the equilibrium, and then the oxidation of the zinc will go on rapidly. Thus three substances are concerned in forming a Voltaic circuit, but it is indispensable that one of them should be a fluid. The electricity so obtained will be very feeble in overcoming resistances offered by imperfect conductors interposed in the circuit, or by very long wires, but it may be augmented by increasing the number of plates. In the common Voltaic battery, the electricity which the fluid has acquired from the first plate of zinc exposed to its action is taken up by the copper plate belonging to the second pair, and transferred to the second zinc plate, with which it is connected. The second plate of zinc, possessing equal powers, and acting in conformity with the first, having thus acquired a larger portion of electricity than its natural share, communicates a larger quantity to the fluid in the second cell. This increased quantity is again transferred to the next pair of plates; and thus every succeeding alternation is productive of a further increase in the quantity of the electricity developed. This action, however, would stop unless a vent were given to the accumulated electricity, by establishing a communication between the positive and negative poles of the battery by means of wires attached to the extreme plate at each end. When the wires are brought into contact, the Voltaic circuit is completed, the electricities meet and neutralize each other, producing the shock and other electrical phenomena; and then the electric current continues to flow uninterruptedly in the circuit, as long as the chemical action lasts.