OF A LIP HA 7^ 1C COMPOUNDS. 3 



1. In aqueous sulphuric acid solution: methyl 

 formate, methylal, methyl acetate, acetic acid, and 

 methyl-sulphuric acid, a little carbon dioxide and 

 monoxide, but no formic aldehyde. 



Renard considers the formation of acetic acid as 

 due to reciprocal action between the alcohol 

 bon monoxide, 



CH 3 OH + CO = CH 3 .COOH. 



Jahn ' thinks the formation must be traceable to the 

 presence of ethyl alcohol. 



2. In aqueous solution, on the addition of potas- 

 sium acetate (Habermann): besides carbon dioxide 

 and carbon monoxide, methane and potassium methyl- 

 carbonate. 



3. Without a solvent, by itself or with the addition 

 of a little alkali: chiefly potassium carbonate; also 

 hydrogen, oxygen, carbon monoxide, and carbon 

 dioxide. 



Ethyl Alcohol. In the case of this alcohol the more 

 important results have been obtained by the investi- 

 gators above mentioned. Schonbein a and Becquerel s 

 later also carried out some investigations on the same 

 subject. The results of the researches are, in general, 

 that the final products formed are the following: 



1 Jahn, Grundriss d. Elektrochemie, 1894, p. 291. 

 9 Tommasi, Traite d'Electrochimie, 1889, p. 726. 

 8 Comp. rend., 81, 1002, and various other places in the same 

 journal ; Tommasi, Traite d'Electroch., 1889, p. 726. 



