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Interesting Particulars Concerning the Magnet: Grove

Since Davy's time the light has frequently been produced by means of the improved batteries now invented, the most suitable forms of battery being those known as Grove's and Bunsen's. The Grove battery cell consists of an outer earthenware or vulcanite vessel, in which is placed a bent plate of amalgamated zinc. Inside this plate is put a porous pot inclosing a strip of platinum foil. The outer cell is charged with dilute sulphuric acid, and the inner pot with strong nitric acid. The Bunsen battery cell is similar to Grove's, with the exception that the platinum element is represented by a rod or plate of gas carbon. At least twenty cells of Grove's or thirty Bunsens are required to produce even a small light, and no one but those accustomed to use them can understand the unpleasantness or the cost of dealing with them. The acids are so highly corrosive, and one of them, the nitric acid, gives off such unpleasant fumes, that the production of the electric light from such a source must be confined to experimental or occasional use. The position of the electric light as an illuminator remained thus until the time of Faraday, who was the first to point out an entirely new source of electricity, namely, the magnet.