THE ELECTRIC ARCS

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Early in 1800 Volta wrote a letter to the President of the Royal Society of London announcing the epochal discovery of a device now known as the voltaic pile. This letter was published in the Transactions and it created great excitement among scientific men, who immediately began active investigations of certain electrical phenomena. Volta showed that all metals could be arranged in a series so that each one would indicate a positive electric potential when in contact with any metal following it in the series. He constructed a pile of metal disks consisting of zinc and copper alternated and separated by wet cloths. At first he believed that mere contact was sufficient, but when, later, it was shown that chemical action took place, rapid progress was made in the construction of voltaic cells. The next step after his pile was constructed was to place pairs of strips of copper and zinc in cups containing water or dilute acid. Volta received many honors for his discovery, which contributed so much to the development of electrical science and art—among them a call to Paris by Bonaparte to exhibit his electrical experiments, and to receive a medal struck in his honor.