84 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



ethyl alcohol, when it was found that the conduction increases 

 with the length of time of the passage of the current. Methyl 

 alcohol does not behave in a like manner. This work was done 

 by Corvallo and published in C. R. 156. 



The work of Kahlenberg of Wisconsin with instantaneous 

 precipitations of anhydrous copper chloride from anhydrous 

 copper oleate solutions by means of a dry solution of hydro- 

 chloric acid in benzene is doubtless familiar to you all. These 

 solutions are all non-conductors and the resulting liquid with 

 the precipitate in is a non-conductor. However, recent work 

 by Cady and Lichtenwalter of Kansas has shown some inter- 

 esting things in this connection. To take a typical example 

 they passed dry hydrochloric acid gas into copper oleate solu- 

 tion, and while neither one alone was a conductor, nor was the 

 resulting mixture a conductor, they found that just previous to 

 the precipitation, which they say was not instantaneous, that 

 the liquid showed considerable conductivity. At this time I do 

 not care to comment on this work further than to say that it 

 seems to throw light on one of the apparent exceptions to 

 Arrhenius' theory. 



The state which a substance is in, apparently has consider- 

 able influence on whether the solution conducts or not, even in 

 organic solvents. This was shown by Lloyd of Alabama, who 

 found that when Molybdenum pentachloride is dissolved in an 

 organic solvent giving green solutions, that they have a con- 

 ductivity of the same order as water solutions of common 

 salts. Differing in this respect, however, that the molecular 

 conduction decreases with dilution. When this same salt dis- 

 solves, giving red-brown solutions, they do not conduct ap- 

 preciably. 



With these few considerations, I want, in a way, to ask your 

 pardon for the disconnectedness of the material presented, 

 which, however, is rather forced on the writer by the discon- 

 nectedness of the views. 



