Manchester Memoirs, Vol. liii. (1909), No. 10. 7 



Is this e>cplanation to be applied to the experiment 

 with hydrogen and nitrous oxide? Can ionization of gas 

 containing a mere trace of moisture cause deposition (^S. 

 this moisture in a form approaching that of a h"quid ? 

 Prof. Tovvnsend has very recently published an account of 

 some remarkable experiments, in which he has shown 

 that there is a very marked decrease in the mobility of 

 negative ions in the presence of an amount of water 

 vapour represented by a pressure of ^^th mm. The air, in 

 his experiments, was ionized by Rontgen rays, but it is 

 known that all gases are to some extent ionized, and it is 

 possible that it is these ions, causing the deposition of 

 water, which bring about chemical action, according to 

 the theory of Sir J. J. Thomson, mentioned above. 



I have found that if thoria is heated in hydrogen and 

 nitrous oxide, dried over phosphorus pentoxide for a 

 fortnight, no action at all is apparent when the tube 

 is heated for five minutes to 530°. Hence ionization 

 without water is ineffective in producing chemical action. 

 Experiments are in progress to determine the question 

 whether, if the spontaneous ionization of a gas is removed 

 by an electric field, chemical action will be prevented 

 even in the presence of water, but they are not suflficiently 

 advanced to justify their publication. 



Some experiments have been made upon the influence 

 of metallic conductors on chemical change. Such sub- 

 substances should, if Sir J. J. Thomson's theory is true, be 

 even more efficient than drops of liquid having a hio-h 

 specific inductive capacity. Dixon and Lowe {Chein. Soc. 

 Jour., 1885, 571) showed that platinum brought about 

 complete union between dried carbon monoxide and 

 oxygen by continued heating, and the Rev. P. J. Kirkby 

 has shown that hydrogen and oxygen at low pressure 

 behave similarly. I have never been able to heat 



