( 480 ) 



be observed, which has also been proved by the thermic research. 

 The solid phase crystallises in broad flat needles, when fused and 

 then solidified in conglomerated spherolites. On melting, the thick, 

 doubly-refracting liquid A is mostly orientated in regard to the 

 previous solid spherolites. 



§ 11. Cholesterol-Stearaie could not be obtained in a doubly- 

 retracting liquid form: the isotropous fusion always crystallises 

 immediately amid rapid, rotating movements, to small needles, which 

 often consist of a conglomeration of rosettes. It is possible that labile 

 anisotropous phases are formed, owing to strong undercooling or by 

 addition of some admixture l ). 



§ 12. Cholesterol- My ristiate lends itself splendidly to the experiment. 

 It behaves mainly in the same manner as the laurate ; the phase B 

 can only be observed on heating, bul not on cooling the isotropous 

 fusion 7>. Most brilliant is the formation of large, globular crystal- 

 drops of the modification^, also the colour-zone which precedes the 

 formation of A from /,, on cooling. This phase A also exhibits the 

 phenomenon of pseud o-isotropism in a particularly distinct form. On 

 the other hand, an important difference between this compound and 

 the laurate is the much smaller velocity with which, on cooling, 

 the spherolites S are formed from J; in this respecl the compound 

 exhibits more similarity with the nonylate. Sometimes it may be 

 observed readily how in the phase A, which consists of an enormous 

 number of linked, globular crystal-drops, which all exhibit the black 

 cross of the spherolite crystals, centrifugal current-lines are developed 

 from a number of points in the mass, along which the crystal-drops 

 range themselves. After the lapse of some time those doubly-refracting 

 globules are seen to disappear, while the current-lines have now 

 become rays of the spherolite. Here again, the question arises whether 

 the transformation of the doubly-refracting liquid globules, which are 

 orientated along the current-lines, into the true spherolite form, does 

 not take place continuously, and whether we do not speak of a 

 sudden transformation merel}' because we are not able to observe 

 the stadia traversed in this transformation. 



The liquid globules of the phase .4 themselves exhibit much 

 similarity with a kind of liquid spherolites; a few times, 1 have 

 even been able to observe such "liquid spherolites" of greater dimens- 



! ) Prof. Lehmann informed me recently that the stearate possesses indeed two 

 labile, anisotropous liquid phases. 



