Xll LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 



SVANTE ARRHENIUS 182 



Arrhenius put forward his theory of ionization while still a student 

 at Upsala. His own description of its reception is worth repeating: 

 "I came to my professor, Cleve, whom I admire very much, and I 

 said: 'I have a new theory of electrical conductivity as a cause of 

 chemical reactions.' He said: 'That is very interesting/ and 

 then said 'Good-bye.' He explained to me later, when he had to 

 pronounce the reason for my receiving the Nobel Prize for that work, 

 that he knew very well that there are so many different theories 

 formed, and that they are almost all certain to be wrong, for after 

 a short time they disappear; and therefore, by using the statistical 

 manner of forming his ideas, he concluded that my theory also would 

 not exist very long." 



It scarcely needs to be added here that the theory is still very much 

 alive! 



THE ELECTRIC CURRENT is PASSED THROUGH SALT WATER IN THESE 

 NELSON CELLS TO OBTAIN CAUSTIC SODA AND CHLORINE 



GAS 183 



In the U. S. Government Chlorine Plant at Edgewood Arsenal 

 during the Great War there were eight cell rooms similar to that 

 shown in the picture, with a total capacity of 100 tons chlorine per 

 day. Each cell room consists of six circuits 74 cells per circuit, 

 or a total of 444 cells per room. 



SIR WILLIAM RAMSAY 296 



Sir William Ramsay (1852-1916) will always be famous for his 

 work on the inert gases of the atmosphere and for his discoveries in 

 the field of radioactivity. He first became interested in chemistry 

 in a rather unusual way. While a boy at school, he broke his leg 

 in a football game, and was kept on a couch for several weeks. To 

 kill time, he read Graham's Chemistry, hoping to find out how to 

 make fireworks. For the next few years his bedroom was full 

 of bottles and test-tubes, and often full of strange smells and star- 

 tling noises. 



THE FIRST HELIUM-FILLED DIRIGIBLE AFTER ITS LANDING AT WASH- 

 INGTON 297 



When Ramsay was presented with the Longstaff Medal for his 

 work on the inert gases, the President of the London Chemical 

 Society remarked: "If I may say a word of disparagement, it is 

 that these elements are hardly worthy of the position in which 

 they are placed. If other elements were of the same unsociable 

 character, Chemistry would not exist." 



