Voltaic Electricity on Alcohol, Sfc. 335 



not shew the same appearances with powerful batteries capable 

 of producing these effects on such alcohol as I employed, I shall 

 be ready to admit that the question as to the nature of alcohol, 

 remains as it was. 



Assuming, however, in the mean time, that we have direct ex- 

 perimental proof of the existence of water as a constituent in 

 alcohol, the next question is, With what is it combined ? Is al- 

 cohol a hydrate of olefiant gas, as Gay Lussac supposes, or of 

 ether, as Liebig maintains ? Here, then, we are once more 

 thrown into the field of inference ; with this difference, however, 

 that our speculations are no longer gratuitous ; for, if alcohol is 

 proved to be a hydrate, it must necessarily be a hydrate of some- 

 thing or other ; and it is a legitimate subject of probable reason- 

 ing to inquire, with what the water is combined. On the whole, 

 I incline to give the preference to Liebig's view, for the follow- 

 ing reasons. 



The experiments on ether lead to the conclusion that this lat- 

 ter body does not contain water. Not only did pure ether resist 

 the strongest voltaic power which was brought into operation on 

 it, but I could not find any substance capable of giving it such 

 conducting power as led to any action which countenanced the 

 supposition that it contained water. Now, the view that al- 

 cohol is a hydrate of olefiant gas has always been taken in con- 

 nection with the idea that ether also is a hydrate of the same 

 body, having a less proportion of water ; and I think that there 

 is little doubt that the supporters of these two views will be less 

 inclined to adopt one of them if the other is held to be dis- 

 proved. The specific gravity of the vapour of ether, the arith- 

 metic mean between that of the vapours of alcohol and water, 

 evidently favours, as Liebig has remarked, the idea of a less in- 

 timate union, such as that of a hydrate. 



The theory of etherification is also much simplified by holding 

 alcohol to be a hydrate of ether ; for we have only to withdraw an 

 atom of water, and the ether remains ready formed, without any 



