( i^2 ) 



the exaniiiiation ot siilpliiir seemed of great iinpüi-tauee, the more so 

 as ill this way a better insight could probably be obtained into the 

 complexity of' the system. 



Ill the very first place the inlliieiice was examined of the previous 

 histor\ of the system on the point of transition, because as was 

 mentioned before, the theory of allolroi)y predicts such an intluence. ') 

 This investigation yielded an indubious result, for it appeared that 

 the point of transition can be modified to a great degree. 



Sulphur was heated to a high temperature in a dilatoineter, and 

 then rapidly cooled. When the sulphur had reached the temperature 

 of the room, the dilatometer was tilled with the liquid indicated by 

 IvKicHKH, ') a solution of snl|)hur in turpentine, and the transition 

 jxjiiit was determined. 



It was always found that the point of transition was at first greatly 

 lowered, and we succeeded in one of our experimeuts in finding this 

 l)oint lowered by more tlian li)° shortly after the filling. This point 

 of transition, which is, of course, a metastable transition point, rose 

 continually with decreasing rapidity, so that the unary transition point 

 was not reached until after 4 a o days. We found 95.45° as tem- 

 perature of the unary transition point under the pressure of J atra., 

 which value tallies with that found by Reichek, viz. 95.6° at a 

 pressure of 4 atmospheres, corrected 95,45° at a pressure of 1 

 atmosphere. 



If we now consult fig. 2 of the communication, of one of us in 

 these Proc. of Sept. 1911') it is easy to see, what happened in this 

 experiment, at least if to simplify the matter as much as possible 

 we assume for a moment that there it always internal equilibrium 

 between Sr and -Sj/. 



Starting from a point on the line LK we have reached the binary 

 melting-i)oint surface below the temperature of the unary melting- 

 point, so in a point on the line L//, and while the liquid follows 

 the line </.JiJ,, the solid j)hase would follow the course indicated by 

 the line f'ys,. When .v, and /^ have been reached the transformation 

 .s-^ _».s-. -[- /. will take place, so that only rhombic mixed crystals and 

 liquid can coexist at lower tein[)eratures. 



Now this wouhl only i)e the case when ;S',/ really behaved as a 

 component, which is not the case; but if we assume that the cooling 

 has taken [)lace so rapidly that S,, has practically not been able to 

 convert itself, then when the rapid cooling no longer takes place, 



1) Loc. cit. 



~) Dissertatie, Amsleidam (1883). 



3) 1. c. p'. 266. 



