sult.
The first paper was reddened, declaring the presence of sulphuric acid;
the second was browned, declaring the presence of the alkali soda. The
dissolved salt, therefore, arranged in this fashion, was decomposed by
the machine, exactly as it would have been by the voltaic current.
When instead of using the positive conductor he used the negative,
the positions of the acid and alkali were reversed. Thus he satisfied
himself that chemical decomposition by the machine is obedient to the
laws which rule decomposition by the pile.

And now he gradually abolishes those so-called poles, to the attraction
of which electric decomposition had been ascribed. He connected a piece
of turmeric paper moistened with the sulphate of soda with the positive
conductor of his machine; then he placed a metallic point in connection
with his discharging train opposite the moist paper, so that the
electricity should discharge through the air towards the point. The
turning of the machine caused the corners of the piece of turmeric paper
opposite to the point to turn brown, thus declaring the presence of
alkali. He changed the turmeric for litmus paper, and placed it, not
in connection with his conductor, but with his discharging train, a
metallic point connected with the conductor being fixed at a couple of
inches from the paper; on turning the machine, acid was liberated at
the edges and corners of the litmus. He then placed a series of pointed
pieces of paper, each separate piece being composed of two halves,
one of litmus and the other of turmeric paper, and all moistened with
sulphate of soda, in the line of the current from the machine. The
pieces of paper were separated from each other by spaces of air. The
machine was turned; and it was always found that at the point where the
electricity entered the paper, litmus was reddened, and at the point
where it quitted the paper, turmeric was browned. 'Here,' he urges,
'the poles are entirely abandoned, but we have still electrochemical
decomposition.' It is evident to him that instead of being attracted by
the poles, the bodies separated are ejected by the current. The effects
thus obtained with poles of air he also succeeded in obtaining with
poles of water. The advance in Faraday's own ideas made at this time is
indicated by the word 'ejected.' He afterwards reiterates this view:
the evolved substances are expelled from the decomposing body, and 'not
drawn out by an attraction.

Having