298 MORRIS LOEB 



non-chemical phenomena, due either to the inequalities of the 

 magnetic field, or to the physical heterogeneity of the reacting 

 system, or to both of these causes at once. It was my wish to 

 study the effect of magnetism upon chemical reaction where 

 the system remained homogeneous throughout, and where the 

 field of stress was practically homogeneous. Such conditions 

 can be realized by observing the speed of some reaction which 

 does not involve solids, in the presence of a magnet, and, again, 

 when there is no magnetic effect, provided the magnetic prop- 

 erties of the system could be altered by the reaction. In the 

 same manner as an electric system is affected by its approach 

 to or removal from a magnetic field, we might suppose that 

 a reaction which made a system more or less amenable to 

 magnetic action might show evidence of acceleration or re- 

 tardation by the magnetic force. If this effect were appre- 

 ciable, the relation between magnetic force and affinity would 

 be established, and data could be obtained for calculating the 

 real value of magnetization. 



[148] My results, however, have been negative, and I am 

 led to believe that no such relation exists, unless it be so slight 

 that my means of observation have been inadequate. Being 

 confident, however, that my method has been of no lower 

 order of delicacy than those hitherto employed in connection 

 with the subject, I do not hesitate to assert that the interest- 

 ing effects which have been noted are not due to a variation 

 of affinity or of chemical reaction in its strictest sense. For 

 this reason I herewith present my results : 



The choice of material for my investigation was rather 

 limited: of all compounds, the salts of the iron group alone 

 yield markedly paramagnetic solutions; furthermore, Wiede- 

 mann has shown that the ordinary form of reaction between 

 salts does not affect the total magnetism of the system, so long 

 as it involves merely an interchange of acids. But there is a 



