192 
IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 
The acetic acid could be recovered by treating the potas- 
sium acetate with some mineral acid thus: 
KC 2 H 3 0 2 +HC1=KC1+HC 2 H 3 0 2 . . . . (23) . 
It will be noticed that acetic acid is closely related to 
alcohol. In fact, when fruit ferments and sours, there is 
at first alcohol present and afterwards acetic acid. 
It has been the object of this paper to point out the 
facts known at the present time in regard to the repre- 
sentative reactions by which calcium carbide, an inorganic 
compound, may be converted into ethyl alcohol, one of the 
most important of the organic compounds. None of the 
methods outlined are of commercial value, as the cheapest 
one can not produce alcohol at less than four times the 
cost of the product derived from fermentation. Neither 
is it at all probable that a method of manufacture, which 
will yield the product at a lower cost, will be worked out, 
because of the fact that there is practically no expense for 
reagents in some of the processes outlined. 
Heat and electric power might be procured very cheaply 
for a manufacturing plant, by locating it where advantage 
might be taken of water power, such as is found at 
Niagara, and yet we could not apply our equations, which 
work out so nicely, and be attended with anything but 
financial loss. 
