The action of Voltaic electricity differs in some respects materially from that of the ordinary kind. When a quantity of common electricity is accumulated, the restoration of equilibrium is attended by an instantaneous violent explosion, accompanied by the development of light, heat, and sound. The concentrated power of the electricity forces its way through every obstacle, disrupting and destroying the cohesion of the particles of the bodies through which it passes, and occasionally increasing its destructive effects by the conversion of fluids into steam from the intensity of the momentary heat, as when trees are torn to pieces by a stroke of lightning. Even the vivid light which marks the path of the electricity is probably owing in part to the sudden compression of the air and the rapidity of its passage. But the instant equilibrium is restored by this energetic action the whole is at an end. On the contrary, when an accumulation takes place in a Voltaic battery, equilibrium is restored the moment the circuit is completed. But so far is the electric stream from being exhausted, that it continues to flow silently and invisibly in an uninterrupted current supplied by a perpetual reproduction. And, although its action on bodies is neither so sudden nor so intense as that of common electricity, yet it acquires such power from constant accumulation and continued action, that it ultimately surpasses the energy of the other. The two kinds of electricity differ in no circumstance more than in the development of heat. Instead of a momentary evolution, the circulation of the Voltaic electricity is accompanied by a continued development of heat, lasting as long as the circuit is complete, without producing either light or sound. Its intensity from a very powerful battery is greater than that of any heat that can be obtained by artificial means, so that it fuses substances which resist the action of the most powerful furnaces. The temperature of every part of a Voltaic battery itself is raised during its activity. With the greater number of metals Mr. Grove found that the positive terminal or pole is hotter than the negative.