oti Alcohol, Ether, and Aqueous Solutions. 163 



Assuming it to be proved that absolute alcohol does, and that 

 ether does not, contain water as a constituent, the most probable 

 view appears to be that alcohol is, as Liebig supposes, a hydrate 

 of ether ; but the non-action of the pile on the latter fluid ap- 

 pears to me to be unfavourable to Liebig's view, that ether is 

 the oxide of an unknown radicle, because on that view, it would 

 seem that it ought to be resolved by voltaic agency into its elec- 

 tro-negative and electro-positive constituents. 



In the course of these researches I was led to examine expe- 

 rimentally the evidence for Dr Faraday's principle of the defi- 

 nite action of the electric current, in so far as regarded solu- 

 tions, and found it fully established with respect to water, as 

 was shown by the constant quantity of hydrogen evolved, when 

 various acid, alkaline, and saline solutions were compared with 

 one another, by passing the same electric current through them. 

 I conceive, however, that in solutions of the hydracids, the acid 

 is not directly decomposed ; and that these cases merely afford 

 additional instances of the definite decomposition of water. The 

 diluted hydracid was placed in a tube connected with the nega- 

 tive side of the battery, and water, pure or acidulated with sul- 

 phuric acid, was placed in another tube connected with the posi- 

 tive side, the communication between the two liquids being esta- 

 blished by moistened asbestus. In these circumstances, hydro- 

 gen and oxygen were evolved from the two poles, but no chlo- 

 rine or iodine was drawn towards the positive side in either li- 

 quid ; and it was only after a long time, when some of the hy- 

 dracid itself had passed into the positive liquid, that chlorine 

 or iodine appeared in very minute quantity by a secondary 

 action. On the other hand, when the battery was reversed, and 

 the hydracid made positive, and the water negative, the oxygen 

 was no longer evolved, and the chlorine or iodine immediately 

 appeared as a secondary product. Analogous experiments show- 

 ed that the decomposition of the haloid salts when in solution 

 was a secondary effect. I have not made any experiments on 

 dry and fused substances, with the particular view of inquiring 

 whether a definitive action of the electric current takes place in 

 such cases ; but several of Dr Faraday's experiments rertainlv 

 appear to lead to that result. 



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