CHEMISTRY. 347 



On account of the surprising nature of this apparent fact, it seemed 

 desirable to repeat this phase of our work with improved apparatus and 

 method. This was done by Dr. Shaeffer and Mr. Paulus. They found 

 that solutions of non-hydrated substances were about equally trans- 

 parent with pure water, except at the bottoms of the absorption bands; 

 there the solutions were as much as 50 per cent more transparent than 

 pure water. This result confirms satisfactorily that obtained last 

 year by Doctors Guy and Shaeffer. This is regarded as probably the 

 strongest evidence thus far obtained for the general correctness of the 

 solvate theory of solution. The only satisfactory explanation of the 

 above result that we can offer is that combined water has less absorp- 

 tion than free water. This might be expected, since the presence of 

 the dissolved substance would probably change the resonance of the 

 water with which it is combined. Further work along this and cor- 

 related lines is now in progress. A number of other problems were 

 investigated by Messrs. Shaeffer and Paulus. 



Br. Wightman and Mr. Wiesel studied the conductivities and tem- 

 perature coefficients of conductivity of a number of organic acids in 

 ethyl alcohol. This is a continuation of the work in non-aqueous 

 and mixed solvents which has been in progress for the past dozen 

 years. It was necessary to design special forms of apparatus for work- 

 ing with alcoholic solutions. The amount of ester formed in each case 

 must be determined and a corresponding correction introduced. 



The conductivities of the organic acids in ethyl alcohol were sur- 

 prisingly small, but the temperature coefficients of conductivity were 

 enormous, amounting to as much as 50 per cent. It is hoped that the 

 further work upon this problem, which is now in progress, will throw 

 some light upon the relation between reaction velocities and equilibrium 

 in alcoholic solutions as compared with solutions in water as the solvent. 



Dr. Davis and Mr. Putnam have studied solutions of certain salts 

 in ternary mixtures of water, acetone, and glycerol. They have meas- 

 ured the conductivities and viscosities of the solutions in question, and 

 have compared these with the corresponding values in the pure solvents. 

 These solvents were chosen because acetone has small viscosity and 

 water intermediate viscosity, while the viscosity of glycerol is very 

 high indeed. 



The general result in the ternary mixtures of the three solvents is 

 in part what would be expected from the results in the pure solvents 

 in question. Some surprising results were, however, obtained. Further 

 ork along this line is now in progress 



Messrs. Lloyd and Watkins are continuing the work on the conduc- 

 tivity, dissociation, and temperature coefficients of conductivity and 

 dissociation of salts in water as the solvent. 



Mr; Holmes is studjang the different chemical relations of "com- 

 bined" and ''free" water. Results of interest and significance have 

 already been brought to light. 



