Page:Various Forces of Matter.djvu/152

chemical power which sends forth the spark—and it is wonderful and beautiful to see how this spark is carried about through these wires. I want you to perceive, if possible, that this very spark and the heat it produces (for there is heat), is neither more nor less than the chemical force of the zinc—its very force carried along wires and conveyed to this place. I am about to take a portion of the zinc and burn it in oxygen gas for the sake of showing you the kind of light produced by the actual combustion in oxygen gas of some of this metal. [A tassel of zinc-foil was ignited at a spirit-lamp and introduced into a jar of oxygen, when it burnt with a brilliant light.] That shows you what the affinity is when we come to consider it in its energy and power. And the zinc is being burned in the battery behind me at a much more rapid rate than you see in that jar, because the zinc is there dissolving and burning, and produces here this great electric light. That very same power which in that jar you saw evolved from the actual combustion of the zinc in oxygen, is carried along these wires and made evident here, and you may if you please consider that the zinc is