OF ALIPHATIC COMPOUNDS. 15 



acid, observed hydrogen at the negative pole and 

 oxygen, carbon dioxide, and traces of carbon mon- 

 oxide at the positive pole. 



The reactions involved in the decomposition of the 

 alkali salts are more interesting. Kolbe, 1 on decom- 

 posing a concentrated solution of potassium acetate, 

 obtained a hydrocarbon in addition to other decom- 

 position products. According to the idea then pre- 

 vailing acetic acid underwent oxidation in the sense 

 that it was thereby changed into carbon dioxide and 

 methyl, both of which appeared at the positive pole, 

 while at the negative pole only hydrogen was evolved, 

 and a part of the methyl was oxidized to methyl 

 oxide. The hydrocarbon evolved was in fact ethane, 

 which always accompanies the decomposition of potas- 

 sium acetate solutions, while the other decomposition 

 products formed vary with the density of the electric 

 current and the temperature of the solutions. Thus 

 Kolbe identified methyl ether and methyl acetate in 

 the solution, while Bourgoin observed no decomposi- 

 tion products other than carbon monoxide and 

 dioxide. Jahn, a who employed currents of very low 

 electrode density, obtained by the electrolysis of an 

 almost saturated solution of sodium acetate only car- 

 bon dioxide, ethane, and hydrogen. The formation 



1 Lieb. Ann., 69, 279. 



* Grundriss d. Elektrochemie, 1895, p. 292. 



