188 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [MARCH 15, 



carbon monoxide does not decompose water in complete absence 

 of air or oxygen, and lience Dixon's first equation does not rep- 

 resent a fact. Traube also finds that when moist carbon mon- 

 oxide and oxygen are united by the electric spark, hydrogen 

 peroxide is an invariable product, and he suggests the following 

 exi)lanation of the reaction : 



(1.) CO + 211,0 + 0„ = CO (OH).. + 11,0, 

 (2.) CO + H,0, = CO (OH)., 

 (3.) 2C0 (OH), = 2C0, + 2il,0. 



These equations may be interpreted as follows: AVhen tlie 

 electric s])ark is passed through a mixture of carbon monoxide 

 and oxygen in the presence of aqueous vapor, the first products 

 are true carbonic acid and liydrogen peroxide; the latter at once 

 oxidizes the carbon monoxide, forming a second molecule of car- 

 bonic acid; and, finally, the two molecules of carbonic acid are 

 decomposed with the formation of carbon dioxide and water. 



If Traube's views be sustained, it is evident that so simple a 

 matter as the combustion of carbon monoxide has long been mis- 

 understood, and disregard of tiie presence of moisture has led to 

 erroneous conclusions.^^ 



Chemists sometimes marvel at the blindness of the alchemists 

 who, though familiar with many chemical processes in which 

 gaseous bodies were evolved, yet disregarded these important fac- 

 tors, and left them for later generations to discover. What will 

 future generations think of us who fail to take into account ac- 

 cessory bodies indispensable lo chemical reactions of the most 

 familiar kind.'' 



(11.) The speed of chemical reactions is an important factor 

 in chemical theory, the study of which has but recently begun. 

 Wenzel '* long ago held that the affinity of metals for a common 

 solvent, such as nitric acid, was inversely as the time necessary 

 to dissolve them, and he exjierimented with small cylinders, 

 partly protected by wax. Gladstone and Tribe" liave made at- 

 tempts to ascertain the rate at which a metallic plate ])reci[)itatcs 

 another metal from a solution, and they announced a definite 

 law. Prof. John W. Langley '* has since shown that, while 

 their experimental work was correct, their method was faulty, 

 and the results fallacious; he thinks it jirobable that the true 

 law of chemical action where one metal precipitates another 

 should be thus stated: The time during which one atom re- 

 places another in a compound molecule is constant, and the 

 total rate of chemical action varies directly as the mass of the re- 

 acting body in solution. 



In his address before the Chemical Section of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, at Philadelphia, 



