WATER 119 



electrical charges has been universally ac- 

 cepted. These so-called ions are the source 

 of nearly all the electrical phenomena of solu- 

 tion, whether in batteries, in the manifesta- 

 tions of animal electricity, or in simple con- 

 duction through an aqueous solution. But 

 the more familiar electrochemical processes 

 are by no means the only results of ioniza- 

 tion. An infinite number of chemical inter- 

 actions between dissociated bodies follow 

 inevitably. These changes are not, to be 

 sure, decisive and irreversible, but balanced 

 actions, which, however, vastly increase the 

 variety of substances that exist in water. 



Let us consider, for example, a system which 

 has been made by dissolving in water the 

 simple salts sodium chloride, NaCl, potas- 

 sium bromide, KBr, and lithium iodide, Lil. 

 According to the ionization hypothesis, more 

 than half of the molecules of every one of 

 these salts will at once dissociate into ions as 

 follows : — 



NaCl = Na + Cl 



KBr = K + B~r 



LiI = Li + I 



These reactions are balanced, and it is 

 confidently believed that the ions are con- 



