No; these are bubbles produced by the decomposition of the water, as you saw in a former experiment. In order to render the separation of the acid from the alkali visible, I pour into the glass (a), which is connected with the positive wire, a few drops of a solution of litmus, which the least quantity of acid turns red; and into the other glass (b), which is connected with the negative wire, I pour a few drops of the juice of violets . . . .
EMILY.
The blue solution is already turning red all round the wire.
CAROLINE.
And the violet solution is beginning to turn green. This is indeed very singular!
MRS. B.
You will be still more astonished when we vary the experiment in this manner:—These three glasses (fig. 3. f, g, h,) are, as in the former instance, connected together by wetted cotton, but the middle one alone contains a saline solution, the two others containing only distilled water, coloured as before by vegetable infusions. Yet, on making the connection with the battery, the alkali will appear in the negative glass (h), and the acid in the positive glass (f), though neither of them contained any saline matter.
EMILY.
So that the acid and alkali must be conveyed right and left from the central glass, into the other glasses, by means of the connecting moistened cotton?
MRS. B.