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Voltaic Electricity on Alcohol, &c. 335 
not shew the same appearances with powerful batteries capable 
of producing these effects on such alcohol as I employed, I shall 
be ready to admit that the question as to the nature of alcohol, 
remains as it was. 
Assuming, however, in the mean time, that we have direct ex- 
perimental proof of the existence of water as a constituent in 
alcohol, the next question is, With what is it combined? Is al- 
cohol a hydrate of olefiant gas, as Gay Lussac supposes, or of 
ether, as Lirpic maintains? Here, then, we are once more 
thrown into the field of inference ; with this difference, however, 
that our speculations are no longer gratuitous; for, if alcohol is 
proved to be a hydrate, it must necessarily be a hydrate of some- 
thing or other ; and it is a legitimate subject of probable reason- 
ing to inquire, with what the water is combined. On the whole, 
I incline to give the preference to LiEsie’s view, for the follow- 
ing reasons. 
The experiments on ether lead to the conclusion that this lat- 
ter body does not contain water. Not only did pure ether resist 
the strongest voltaic power which was brought into operation on 
it, but I could not find any substance capable of giving it such 
conducting power as led to any action which countenanced the 
supposition that it contained water. Now, the view that al- 
cohol is a hydrate of olefiant gas has always been taken in con- 
nection with the idea that ether also is a hydrate of the same 
body, having a less proportion of water ; and I think that there 
is little doubt that the supporters of these two views will be less 
inclined to adopt one of them if the other is held to be dis- 
proved. The specific gravity of the vapour of ether, the arith- 
metic mean between that of the vapours of alcohol and water, 
evidently favours, as Lizsie has remarked, the idea of a less in- 
timate union, such as that of a hydrate. 
The theory of etherification is also much simplified by holding 
alcohol to be a hydrate of ether ; for we have only to withdraw an 
atom of water, and the ether remains ready formed, without any 
