The ever-increasing importance of the electric current in metallurgy and chemical manufactures is making this method of great importance, and in some cases it has partially, if not wholly, superseded the older methods.
An electric current consists of a moving stream of electrons.
Berzelius's investigation of the action of the electric current on salts clearly demonstrated the invaluable assistance that electrolysis could render to the isolator of elements; and the adoption of this method by Sir Humphry Davy for the analysis of the hydrates of the metals of the alkalis and alkaline earths, and the results which he thus achieved, established its potency.
In the article Electrolysis it is shown how the passage of an electric current through a solution containing metallic ions involves the deposition of the metal on the cathode.
Sumpner, "The Measurement of the Power given by an Electric Current to any Circuit," Proc. Roy.
