Only fifteen years ago it would have been folly to desire to obtain
remunerative results through the electrolysis of water. Such research
was subordinated to the industrial production of electric energy.
We shall not endeavor to establish the priority of the experiments and
discoveries. The question was in the air, and was taken up almost
simultaneously by three able experimenters--a Russian physicist, Prof.
Latchinof, of St. Petersburg, Dr. D'Arsonval, the learned professor of
the College of France, and Commandant Renard, director of the military
establishment of aerostation at Chalais. Mr. D'Arsonval collected
oxygen for experiments in physiology, while Commandant Renard
naturally directed his attention to the production of pure hydrogen.
The solutions of the question are, in fact, alike in principle, and
yet they have been developed in a very different manner, and we
believe that Commandant Renard's process is the completest from an
industrial standpoint. We shall give an account of it from a
communication made by this eminent military engineer, some time ago,
to the French Society of Physics.
_Transformations of the Voltameter._--In a laboratory, it is of no
consequence whether a liter of hydrogen costs a centime or a franc.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25