260 Dr. Schoenbein 07i the peculiar Condition of Iron. 



the circumstances. Now what heat is capable of effecting in 

 one case, a current, I think, must be able to do in another. 



As to the arrangement of the molecules of common iron 

 with regard to the relative position of their chemical poles, it 

 must be supposed to be similar to that of Ampere's molecular 

 currents in the same metal before its being magnetized, that 

 is to say, quite irregular. From such being the case it would 

 follow that the surface of a piece of common iron is formed 

 of attractive and repulsive poles, or what comes to the same 

 thing, that the metal without being placed under the influence 

 of a current of a certain direction, is to be chemically affected 

 by oxygen which is in the peculiar state before mentioned. 



It is not impossible that the supposed chemical polarity of 

 the molecules of iron is in some way or other connected with 

 the eminently magnetic properties of that metal, and it may 

 even be imagined, that the current which is suspected of circu- 

 lating round each iron particle has its source in the said po- 

 larity. As far as I know. Ampere has only postulated the 

 currents in the iron, or rather inferred them from a certain 

 number of facts, and given out no opinion whatever as to 

 their ultimate cause. The passage of a current through iron 

 must at any rate have some influence upon the relative posi- 

 tion and motion of the supposed molecular currents of that 

 metal, and changing the direction of these currents may also 

 determine a modification of the chemical relations of iron. 

 Pursuant to my hypothesis nickel and cobalt ought to be 

 quite similar with regard to the phjenomena of inactivity. 

 Such, however, as formerly shown by me, is not the case ; but 

 on the other hand I must say, that my experiments were 

 made upon such a small scale and were so few in number, 

 that I do not yet dare to draw any conclusive inference from 

 them. 



Isomerism and dimorphism, generally speaking so closely 

 connected with one another, are phasnomena which have, 

 perhaps, also something to do with chemical polarity. Up to 

 this present moment they remain unaccounted for; but if we 

 suppose that the particle of one substance exerts towards the 

 particle of another different degrees of attraction, according 

 to different relative positions of these molecules, we can con- 

 ceive the possibility of two bodies forming a variety of distinct 

 compounds, though the ratio in which their constituent parts 

 enter into combination should remain the same. 



Agreeably to such hypothesis a series of isomeric bodies 

 would be nothing but [bodies constituted by the operation 

 of] different sorts of chemical equilibrium between the same 

 constituent parts. It would also follow from the hypothesis, 



