242 K. IKEDA 



It is the endeavor of the present paper to «how that capillary- 

 attraction of organic liquids belongs to the above mentioned category 

 of physical properties, and can be represented by the same general 

 formula. 



That there is a well defined relation between capillary constants 

 of liquid substances and their molecular composition has been put 

 beyond all doubt by the extensive and elaborate experimental inves- 

 tigations of R. Schiff. He has chosen boiling points as the temperature 

 of physical comparability, and expressed the relation between capillary 

 constants at these points and the chemical composition by the formula 



r.a-bH 



N = - 



H ' 



in which N stands for the relative number of molecules raised in a 

 capillary tube, H is the sum of the special values for the constituent 

 atoms referred to hydrogen as unity, e is the base of the Napierian 

 logarithms, while a and b are constants. This equation accords 

 fairly well with the experimental results ; but it is hard to see why 

 such a relation should exist between N and H, or rather the meaning 

 of the latter term is very difficult to make out. The expression, 

 indeed, claims no higher title than that of being strictly empirical; still 

 it is better to use those terms only, to which some probable meaning, 

 at least, can be assigned. The two formulre about to be proposed are 

 in no way superior to Schiff's as far as purely theoretical consideration 

 goes, for they pretend to no theoretical ground whatsoever. Still 

 they seem to be more rational inasmuch as the terms involved have 

 some meaning-, and besides a^ree better with the observed results, 

 as will be shown later on. The new equations are of the same form 

 as the general expression already given, and show the relation 

 between capillary constants and molecular volumes in a very clear 

 manner, although it is rather difficult to understand why they 



