THE CORROSION OF IRON AND OTHER METALS 331 



appointed by the Institute was presented at the annual general 

 meeting in May last which is a summary of the state of 

 knowledge or rather, it should be said, of ignorance, of the 

 precise conditions determining corrosion. It is claimed that 

 the Report is the most comprehensive monograph available 

 on the subject. 



A brief introduction is followed by a review twenty-four 

 pages long of the more important technical papers and a short 

 synopsis of the views of their authors. The conclusion the 

 reporter arrived at is that modern knowledge of the corrosion 

 of copper is in a somewhat confused and tangled state and that 

 very few positive experimental results can be considered as 

 thoroughly established. Believing this to be due to the fact 

 that the mechanism of the solution of the metal or alloy has 

 not been taken sufficiently into account, he proceeds to restate 

 the whole case from the point of view of the ionic theory of 

 solutions. Having this bee in his bonnet, he gives a detailed 

 statement of the "theory" and wastes fourteen pages in ideal- 

 istic elementary talk about ions, solution pressure and all the 

 various shibboleths of the school ; but this is insufficient to 

 inform the ignorant and useless to those who are informed. 

 Not a single practical conclusion is arrived at ; those who have 

 some common sense in their composition who read the section 

 must feel that they are left in the " as you was " position, with 

 a completely confused mind — well prepared therefore, let us 

 hope, to jettison the whole Report and begin afresh. 



In the penultimate section of the Report the author restates 

 the problem and then gives his own views of the problems 

 involved. In the final section a scheme of research is outlined 

 but this is as nebulous as the earlier part of the Report. 



Nothing could be less satisfactory, nothing could show 

 more clearly the disgraceful condition of ignorance which 

 prevails on subjects so important as that of the conditions 

 which determine the dissolution of metals : this notwithstanding 

 the continuous babble about ionic dissociation and its con- 

 sequences that has distracted the attention of chemists during 

 the past quarter of a century. 



Whether there be dissociated ions or not in aqueous solutions 

 matters little — this is a question for academic discussion. The 

 problem before us is the determination of the conditions which 

 must prevail if attack is to take place. 



