114 



SOAPS AND PROTEINS 



ment of electrolytic disso- 

 ciation. 1 The importance 

 of " alkalinity " or of " hy- 

 droxyl ions " disappears when 

 ammonium hydroxid is found 

 incapable of doing what po- 

 tassium hydroxid or potas- 

 sium chlorid does; the " al- 

 kaline," " neutral " or " acid " 

 character of the original soap 

 stock can hardly be of funda- 

 mental importance when all 

 three are seen to exhibit the 

 same general behavior to- 

 ward added substances. 



If we attempt to explain 

 the successive changes which 

 follow the addition of fixed 

 alkali or a neutral salt to 

 potassium oleate (or any 

 similar soap), and try to do 

 this without recourse to too 

 many or too violent assump- 

 tions, the following seems the 

 simplest way out. 



The entire series of changes 

 observed in the salting-out of 

 a soap by an alkali or a salt 

 is readily understood if it is 

 assumed that the added neutral 

 salt or alkali hydroxid unites 

 with the solvent to form a 

 hydrate or solvate and that the 

 consequent viscosity changes 

 (including gelation) are de- 

 pendent upon the changes in 

 viscosity observed whenever one 

 liquid is emulsified in a second. 



1 See the preceding sections (pages 30 to 77) on soap/alcohol and soap/a; 

 systems. 



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