327 



lie spirit, joined to tliosc primarily detailed, he concludes, that " when 

 solutions of primary combinations of elementary substances, in water 

 and in those liijuiJy, such as alcohol and pyroxylic spirit, which con- 

 tain water, as an essential constituent, are submitted to voltaic agency, 

 the dissolved substance is not directly decomposed by the current, 

 but only the water of the solvent." 



The author had formerly found, that pure ether, and all ethereal 

 solutions then tried, resisted voltaic decomposition. lie has since 

 ascertained that when ether, charged with dry muriatic acid gas, is 

 submitted to galvanic action, hydrogen is given off at the negative 

 pole, whilst chlorine is produced at the positive. The cause may 

 either be, that the ether suffers a certain degree of decomposition 

 previous to voltaic action when charged with muriatic acid gas, as is 

 indicated by the effects resulting when it is charged with hydriodic acid 

 gas, water at the same time perhaps being formed, and subsequently 

 undergoing voltaic decomposition ; or that the hydracid itself, in an 

 ethereal solution, suffers direct voltaic decomposition. But as the 

 author sees no cause to depart from his former conclusion, that ether 

 contains no water as such as a constituent, he thinks it better not to 

 include ether in any general rule regulating the voltaic decomposi- 

 tion of solutions. 



In order to shew from voltaic action that the haloid salts are dis- 

 solved in water as hydracid salts, the author does not now think it 

 to be necessary to contrast the results with those obtained with alco- 

 holic solutions. He conceives it to be sufficient to shew, that acid 

 and alkali separate from the aqueous solution of a haloid salt, when 

 the poles are plunged in distilled water on each side of it, so as to 

 exclude a secondary action. A little attention will shew that we 

 cannot otherwise account for the separation of the hydracid, when 

 taken in connection with the facts, that the electro-negative consti- 

 tuent of the hydracid also appears at the positive pole, and a definite 

 proportion of hydrogen at the negative when the poles are plunged 

 directly in the solution. 



It was found, however, that an aqueous solution of chloride of gold 

 did not shew acid passing into the connected water with the power 

 employed; and hence it is probable that, either from peculiarity of 

 atomic constitution or from the feeble affinity of some metals for oxy- 

 gen, their haloid salts do not decompose water. The test, however, 

 was found to hold good in regard to chloride of zinc, and therefore 

 in all likelihood in regard to all other metals of a more electro-positive 

 character. The author believes, that even in alcoholic solutions of 



