34 



L denotes the number of grams of solvent. 



S „ „ ,, „ „ ,, solved substance. 



A ,, ,, rise of tlie boiling i)oint. 



Walden has not su(!ceeded in finding an explanation of this pecu- 

 liar phenomenon. In the first place it occurred to him lliat it miglit 

 possibly be owing to the inlluence of traces of moisture, but the 

 phenomenon remained the same when both the solvent and the solid 

 substance were carefully dried. Furtiier' Walden considered the 

 possibility of a change rf the solvent, a splitting up or an isomeri- 

 sation, but he thouglit he had also to reject this possibility for 

 "das reine Lösungsmittel wies im Siedeapparat eine gauze Stunde 

 lang eine konstante Kochtemperatur auf; die von den SalzhJsungen 

 abdistillierten Proben des Lösungsmittels ergaben den normalen 

 Siedepunkt des Methyh-hodanids." 



If the latter were correct it would really be a futile attempt to 

 try and find an explanation for the phenomenon of the lowering of 

 the boiling point observed here, but this statement is founded on an 

 inaccurate observation. 



Convinced of the universality of the phenomenon that a substance 

 that behaves like a unary one is in internal equilibrium ') we were 



^) We speak of internal equilibi'ium when different kinds of molecules of one 

 and the same substance are in equilibrium. 



