160 Mr Connell on the Action of Voltaic Electricity 



in 2 J hours from the commencement. During the action the 

 liquid boiled, and became of a red colour from the formation of 

 resinous matter, and a precipitation of carbonate of potash took 

 place. 



Small quantities of other substances soluble in alcohol, as 

 chloride of calcium, iodide of potassium, nitrate of lime, boracic 

 acid, &c, produced similar effects as potash, in causing an evolu- 

 tion of gas, but to a much less extent. 



It was then found, that if alcohol sp. gr. .7928, at 66° Fahr. 

 holding nothing in solution, was acted on by 216 pairs of four- 

 inch plates, in a tube, the platinum foil poles being placed side 

 by side within ^th to ^th of an inch of one another, gas was 

 evolved as before, from the negative foil, and none from the po- 

 sitive ; and this gas, which was collected sometimes over water, 

 and sometimes over mercury, proved, on examination in repeat- 

 ed trials, to be hydrogen mixed with a small quantity of com- 

 mon air derived from the liquid. The alcohol, after the action, 

 was found to contain a minute trace of resinous matter. 



The effect of the presence of small quantities of the foreign 

 substances, is to increase the conducting power of the liquid, as 

 is shewn by an increased action on the galvanometer. The 

 electric current is thus enabled to exercise its decomposing agen- 

 cy with greater facility. 



The action, in these cases, is conceived to consist in the voltaic 

 decomposition of water contained in the alcohol, apparently as a 

 constituent, when absolute alcohol is acted on; the hydrogen being 

 evolved from the negative pole, and the oxygen being absorbed 

 by the fluid, and employed in producing certain secondary ef- 

 fects. We are prepared for adopting this view, by calling to 

 mind the strong affinity which alcohol or its constituents have 

 for oxygen, and the variety of circumstances under which an 

 oxidation of alcohol ensues, as well as the variation, on the na- 

 ture of the products, according to the energy of the oxidating 

 circumstances. In the acetous fermentation, oxygen is absorbed, 

 and acetic acid and water are formed. When alcohol is exposed 

 to the nascent oxygen from oxide of manganese and sulphuric 

 acid, or when an alcoholic solution of potash absorbs oxygen 

 from the atmosphere, or when alcohol and ether are oxidated 

 by the agency of glowing platinum, — in all these cases a more 

 highly oxygenated acid, the formic, is produced in addition to 



