NEW CONCEPTIONS IN SCIENCE 



Almost every one knows that pure water does 

 not conduct electricity. A lump of table-salt dis- 

 solved in the water, or a spoonful of sulphuric acid, 

 not merely makes the water a conductor, but, with 

 metal plates, may itself give rise to an electric 

 current. This was the essence of the discoveries 

 of Galvani and Volta. A lump of sugar so dis- 

 solved has no such effect. 



The explanation of these phenomena, and the 

 practical founding of a new science as well, was the 

 joint work of van't Hoff, a Dutchman; Arrhenius, 

 a Swede; Ostwald, a Baltic German; Raoult, a 

 Frenchman. Extended by eager investigators in 

 every direction, the new theories have worked a 

 genuine revolution in chemistry itself; they have 

 given rise to a number of new industries, which, 

 if we add to them the aluminum and calcium car- 

 bide industries, born of the electric furnace, are 

 already worth millions of dollars to America alone 

 millions more to Europe. The new theories, more- 

 over, seem to throw a flood of light on the most 

 puzzling problems of life. Thanks to them, we 

 are on the way now to a connected account of all 

 vital actions, whether of digestion or reproduction, 

 growth or death, on a simple mechanical or chemi- 

 cal basis. Our bodies and our brains consist very 

 largely of water; the blood carries in solution all 

 the materials which maintain life, so that if we 



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