Note 44 bis — Chapter II · THE COMPOSITION OF WATER, HYDROGEN

There is a very intimate and evident relation between the phenomena which take place in the action of spongy platinum and the phenomena of the action in a nascent state. The combination of hydrogen with aldehyde may be taken as an example. Aldehyde is a volatile liquid with an aromatic smell, boiling at 21°, soluble in water, and absorbing oxygen from the atmosphere, and in this absorption forming acetic acid—the substance which is found in ordinary vinegar. If sodium amalgam be thrown into an aqueous solution of aldehyde, the greater part of the hydrogen evolved combines with the aldehyde, forming alcohol—a substance also soluble in water, which forms the principle of all spirituous liquors, boils at 78°, and contains the same amount of oxygen and carbon as aldehyde, but more hydrogen. The composition of aldehyde is C2H4O, that of alcohol C2H6O.