324 Mr Connell on the Action of 



alcohol are oxidated, and a liquid results which has been called 

 the lampic acid, and which, in addition to acetic acid, contains, 

 as I also had occasion to show, formic acid, to which its reducing 

 properties are owing.* 



Now, in the action of voltaic electricity on absolute alcohol, 

 holding ^y-o part of potash in solution, I have stated that hydro- 

 gen was evolved at the negative pole, and that a yellow resinous 

 matter resulted, and a precipitation of carbonate of potash 

 ensued.f These changes appear to be of the same character as 

 those which result from the spontaneous absorption of oxygen 

 by a strong solution of potash in alcohol, the differences being, 

 that in the latter case the oxygen is derived from an external 

 source, and the products of the oxidation are, besides the resinous 

 matter, acetic and formic acids ; while, in the former instance, 

 the oxygen comes from the liquid itself, by the decomposition of 

 water under the electric agency, and the products of the oxida- 

 tion are the resinous matter, carbonic acid, and probably water. 

 The latter, in short, is a still more energetic oxidation than the 

 former, for carbonic acid is a more highly oxidated body than 

 either acetic or formic acids, and if alcohol or ether were oxidat- 

 ed to the utmost possible pitch, the products would be carbonic 

 acid and water. The oxidating power here is not only the dis- 

 posing affinity of the potash, but the presence of nascent oxygen 

 arising from decomposing water, and the operation of these causes 

 is greatly promoted by the great elevation of temperature attend- 

 ing the action. 



Accordingly, I have not been able to ascertain that carbonic 

 acid is a product in the other cases of electric agency which I 

 have mentioned, where so powerful a disposing affinity is not in 

 action as when potash is present. I examined the gas liberated 



* New Edinb. Philos. Jour. April 1833, vol. xxviii. p. 231. 



■J- Such a weak solution suffers no spontaneous change in the same time, even 

 with contact of air. 



