Galvanizing

“ A mixture of coal tar and mercurial ointment of one.
Galvanism is proposed to be used in various ways--strips of copper and zinc, or by galvanizing the plates before use. Black lead finds a place in many compositions.
One patent, by a complicated process, effects a union of metallic zinc and iron; this, granulated and ground fine, then mixed with red lead and oil, makes the paint. It is said to be the best of all the patented stuffs.
It is astonishing how many use oils derived from coal, peat, or resin, and tars of the same. ”

“ The galvanizing gives the wire a bright finish and serves to protect it from the corrosive action of the atmosphere. There is a considerable demand for painted fencing, in the manufacture of which the galvanizing is dispensed with, and the spools of finished barbed wire, as they come from the barbing machine, are submerged in paint and dried. ”

“ Ordinary galvanized iron soon loses its galvanizing cover, and the iron then is liable to rust. Attempts have been made to use sheet zinc and other alloys, which are cut or punched into nets with square or diamond-shaped holes. ”

“ Galvanism may be named; yet galvanism is generated by certain decompositions—of metal, for instance—and this metal had first to be prepared by the agency of coal, and in its decomposition can give out no more labor than the coal before invested in it. It is as if one should buy a steam engine to pump up water to keep his mill wheel going. The source of all labor is the sun. ”

“ Galvanism is the principle of life. There is no other vital force than the galvanic polarity. The heterogeneity of the three terrestrial elements in a circumscribed individual body is the vital force. The galvanic process is one with the vital process.
885. Organism is galvanism residing in a thoroughly homogeneous mass. The galvanic column is no organism, because it only admits the galvanic process just as the planet does, in individual places. A body only, which is zinc-pole, silver-pole and moist pulp at every conceivable point, is an organism. ”

“ A Description of the Galvanic Trough and Pile. Professor Volta’s first contrivance for manifesting Galvanism in a more vigorous manner than had hitherto been done, was what he called a couronne de tasses. This consisted of tumblers of glass, half filled with water, or salt and water. These glasses or tumblers, were so placed that a metallic arc, in form of a C, could be fixed with one leg in one glass, and the other in the next glass. On one end of each arc, was fastened a small plate of silver or copper, and on the other end, a similar plate of zinc or tin. ”

“ Galvanic experiments do not succeed so well in a room crowded with persons, as when only two or three individuals are present.
8. Galvanic contractions are more powerful the instant the animal is deprived of life, than some time after; and therefore more violent agitations can be produced in the living animal.
9. Volta concluded that Galvanism was generated by the metal, and not by the animal upon which he operated. ”

“ It is a powerful agent in nature, and calculated for important ends, of which we are ignorant. It is unnecessary to notice opinions concerning it. All electrics will yield it, such as glass, rosin, &c. and it may be collected in the usual manner by the prime conductor and Leyden jar. Galvanism, called also Galvanic electricity, produced by an arrangement of zinc, and copper plates in a pile, or trough, and placed in contact with some oxygenizing fluid, has the same effect of causing quiescent heat to become distributable, and is undoubtedly the result of chemical action. ”

“ And hence I define galvanism as the electric fire, or grand agent, only partially separated from its combinations; by which I refer principally to oxygen and hydrogen.’ After illustrating this principle, by referring to the circumstances in which the chemical agency of galvanism appears more conspicuous than that of electricity, he adds, ‘thus we perceive, that when the grand agent of nature is more perfectly separated from its combinations it is ELECTRICITY ”

“ I received an account of this phænomenon at Milan, several years ago, from the celebrated Volta, who produced it by applying a conductor of zinc in such a manner, that one end of it touched the bulb of the eye, and the other the tip of the tongue armed with a plate of tin. In administering Galvanism for diseases of the eyes, it is much better to employ the pile. To excite the appearance of a flash of light, it is not necessary that the eyes should be open; it takes place even if they are shut, and covered with a bandage in a darkened apartment. ”

“ I extended an iron wire, two hundred and fifty feet in length, around my chamber, taking great care that it should not any where touch itself, and made its extremities to terminate at a table which I had prepared for the experiment. One of these extremities being brought into communication with a pile composed of fifty plates of copper and zinc, I held the other in my left hand, and with my right touched the summit of the pile. The Galvanism then proceeded from the bottom of the pile to the summit, traversing a portion of the arc formed by the animal machine. ”

“ Fourcroy attributes this phenomenon to the decomposition of water by the galvanic fluid, which abandons the oxygen to the iron that touches the positive extremity of the pile; then conducts the other gas invisibly to the end of the other wire, there to be disengaged.
From the numerous experiments of Mr. Davy, many new and important facts have been established, and Galvanism has been found to be one of the most powerful agents in chemistry. By its influence, platina wire has been melted; gold, silver, copper, and most of the metals, have easily been burnt! ”

“ Galvanism is now applied to persons apparently dead, from drowning, hanging, or exposure to noxious gases. In such cases, the body should be divested of its clothing, and placed in a warm bed nearly approaching the natural temperature, and at the same time slight Galvanic shocks should be passed through the body, in such a direction as to affect the heart.—Thus by combining this, with the usual means, the most advantageous consequences may be expected. ”

“ GALVANIZED IRON, sheet iron having its surface covered with a thin coating of zinc. In spite of the name, galvanic action has often no part in the production of galvanized iron, which is prepared by dipping the iron, properly cleaned and pickled in acid, in a bath of molten zinc. The hotter the zinc the thinner the coating, but as a high temperature of the bath is attended with certain objections, it is a common practice to use a moderate temperature and clear off the excess of zinc by passing the plates between rollers. ”

“ At the same time, Davy argues that the facts are in contradiction to the assumption that chemical changes are the primary causes of the phenomena of galvanism. Moreover, in mere cases of chemical change—as in iron burning in oxygen, the deflagration of nitre with charcoal, the combination of potash with sulphuric acid, the amalgamation of zinc,—electricity is never exhibited. ”

“ As, for instance, chemical forces may slumber in matter for a thousand years, but when the contact with the re-agents sets them free, they appear again and produce certain results. For thousands of years galvanism slumbered in copper and zinc, which lay quietly beside silver. As soon as all three are brought together under the required conditions silver is consumed in flame. A dry seed of a plant may preserve the slumbering power of growth through two or three thousand years and then reappear under favorable conditions. ”

“ In that interval Grapengiesser found, as we had done, that Galvanism, by means of zinc and silver [17] , has an influence on the peristaltic motion. Humboldt ascertained the Galvanic action on the hearts of frogs, lizards, toads, and fishes. Smuch observed the excitability of the heart by the Galvanic fluid; and Fowler changed the pulsations of the heart without the immediate application to it of armatures, and only by adapting them in warm-blooded animals to the recurrent nerve by means of the sympathetic [18] . ”

“ On the 27th of February, the sky being serene, and the sea calm, every thing seemed to be favourable for the experiment. A gentle south-west wind prevailed at the time; the temperature of the water of the sea was 47·4° of Fahrenheit, that of the atmosphere 49·4°, and the barometer stood at 30·37 inches.
Fort Rouge and the West Mole afforded me two fixed points proper for my purpose. A Galvanic pile consisting of eighty plates of silver and zinc was constructed on the West Mole on an insulated stool, and the animals destined to be exposed to the Galvanic action were placed at Fort Rouge. ”

“ Being desirous to examine the nature of the element inhabited by the numerous family of fishes, which are also subject to the influence of the Galvanic processes, I filled with sea-water thirty earthen vessels; and having formed a communication between them, by means of heterogeneous arcs, composed of brass and zinc, I obtained a shock, which appeared to me stronger than that obtained with artificial salt water. By establishing an arc with only five of these vessels, Pg 30 the action was very sensible. ”

“ A.D. 1803.—Basse (Frédéric Henri) , of Hamel, makes one of the earliest trials of the transmission of galvanism through water and soil, the results of which appear in his work, “Galvanische Versuche,” etc., published at Leipzig the year following. ”

“ The sketch of the history of galvanism is divided into three periods. The first treats of the discoveries attaching to muscular contraction, and alludes to the observations of Sulzer, Galvani, Fabbroni, Humboldt, Pfaff, Fontana, Valli, Monro, Vassalli-Eandi, Fowler, Smuck, Marsigli, Grapengieser, Giulio, Rossi, Aldini and Wells. ”

“ If left till they are in seed, the strength goes to the seed. They are best picked from the stocks, dried quickly (but not burnt) , before the fire, and rubbed into powder, then bottled.
771. Galvanism a Protector of Trees.—A German journal states that the application of galvanism has been made in Austria for preserving trees and plants from the ravages of insects. The process is very simple, consisting only in placing two rings, one of copper, the other of zinc, attached together, around the tree or plant. ”

“ It is not absolutely necessary to use two metals to produce the galvanic phenomena; for if one side of a metal be made to oxidate, while the other is prevented from oxidation, these appearances will still be produced. It is not indeed necessary to use any metal; for a piece of charcoal, oxidated in the same way, produces galvanism; so does fresh muscular fibre, and perhaps any substance capable of oxidation. The most striking circumstance in galvanism, is, that it accompanies oxidation, and is perhaps never produced without it. ”

“ Galvanism was so called precisely as the Roentgen ray was christened at a later day—as a safe means of begging the question as to the nature of the phenomena involved. The initial fact in galvanism was the discovery of Luigi Galvani (1737-1798) , a physician of Bologna, in 1791, that by bringing metals in contact with the nerves of a frog's leg violent muscular contractions are produced. As this simple little experiment led eventually to the discovery of galvanic electricity and the invention of the galvanic battery, it may be regarded as the beginning of modern electricity. ”

“ Electrism has a basis; it is the air. Magnetism has a basis; it is the metal. Chemism has a basis; it is the salt. So has galvanism a basis; it is the organic mass.
887. Accordingly, what would be organic, must be galvanic; what would be alive, must be galvanic. Life is not different from organism, nor also from galvanism. For life is verily the vital process. But the vital process is an organic, galvanic process. Galvanism lies at the basis of all the processes of the organic world. They are either modifications of it, or only its combinations with other and still higher actions. ”

“ Wherever matter is found definitely arranged, it is also accompanied by effects dependent upon the arrangement; platinum, zinc, and sulphuric acid, when connected in a proper manner, form a galvanic element and give rise to a galvanic current. ”

“ Here then we have developed a very energetic fluid, capable of transmission, and deriving its origin from the action of the animal forces; since the parts of bodies separated from the common reservoir of general electricity have still of themselves the faculty of reproducing it, and of causing it to circulate in a manner proper for exciting muscular contractions.
Pg 8 PROPOSITION III. Galvanism develops itself in a powerful manner, independently of metals, by means of the human animal machine. ”

“ The agency of galvanism explains why porter has a different and more pleasant taste when drunk out of a pewter-pot than out of glass or earthenware; why works of metal which are soldered together soon tarnish in the place where the metals are joined; and why the copper sheathing of ships, when fastened with iron nails, is soon corroded about the place of contact. ”

“ The gilding is not essential, but more in the nature of an extravagant refinement. The only excuse one can find for such a refinement is that gilding protects the iron from rusting, and so preserves the sharpness of the point. ”

“ It is easy to shew by galvanic experiments that in living animals the evolution of light depends on an irritation of the nerves. I have seen an Elater noctilucus which was dying emit strong flashes of light when I touched the ganglion of his fore leg with zinc and silver. Medusæ sometimes shew increased brightness at the moment of completing the galvanic circuit. (Humboldt, Relat. Hist. T. i. p. 79 and 533.)
Respecting the wonderful development of mass and power of increase in Infusoria, see Ehrenberg, Infus. ”

“ Brown-Séquard galvanized the entire bodies of animals immediately after death. Galvanism can not operate in any of the modes in which the stroke of lightning may have operated, except the single one of producing muscular convulsions. If, therefore, after the bodies have been galvanized, the duration of rigidity is much shortened and putrefaction much accelerated, it is reasonable to ascribe the same effects when produced by lightning to the property which galvanism shares with lightning, and not to those which it does not. ”