322 Mr Connelt. on the Action of 



The gas thus collected from the negative pole was examined 

 both by chlorine and in the voltaic eudiometer, and was found, 

 on repeated trials, to be hydrogen. There was usually mixed 

 with it about one-ninth of common air or its constituents, derived, 

 as in the former instance, from the liquid, and partly also, perhaps, 

 from the water over which it was collected, when water was used 

 for that purpose. 



The alcohol acted on acquired a peculiar etherial odour ; 

 but I could not find that any farther change was produced on it 

 than the admixture of a minute quantity of a yellow resinous 

 matter, which was observed by mixing it with a little water, and 

 evaporating nearly to dryness. 



Although a battery of considerable energy is required, when 

 it is intended to collect the gas evolved from pure alcohol, still it 

 is possible to observe the action with smaller powers. Thus when 

 alcohol .7928 was acted on by seventy-two pairs of four-inch plates 

 in the tube Fig. 2, with foils parallel to one another, and from 

 one-twentieth to one-thirtieth of an inch apart, gas was observed 

 to arise in the course of one or two minutes ; but the quantity was 

 much less than with the greater power, and the liquid got only mo- 

 derately warm and never boiled. Even with fifty pairs of two-inch 

 plates, and the foils at the above distance, a minute stream of 

 bubbles could be sometimes observed with a lens after action for 

 a minute or two. With the foils one-tenth of an inch apart, al- 

 cohol of .830 shewed no action in the cold with this power, but 

 when heated nearly to boiling and then acted on, a slight effer- 

 vescence could be observed from the negative pole. 



It is essential, however, that the foils be placed parallel to 

 one another, as described in these experiments. If they were 

 simply approached to one another horizontally, in an open ves- 

 sel, I did not observe any action on pure alcohol even with the 

 power of 216 pairs. 



It is now time to recur to the nature of the changes which I 

 conceive to take place during this agency ; and I am the more 



