[601] STUDIES IN THE SPEED OF REDUCTIONS 1 



FOR some years past, I have been conducting experiments 

 to ascertain whether certain phenomena due to the mixture 

 of derivatives of closely allied bases might not indicate the 

 formation of complex bases of a higher order, similar to the 

 well-known complex acids. The difference in the colloidal ten- 

 dencies of mixed and pure basic salts, the appearance of spec- 

 troscopic lines in a mixture of oxides, none of which emit these 

 lines in a pure state, the curious relation of thorium and 

 cerium with respect to incandescence, are among the phe- 

 nomena which might call for such an explanation. While my 

 experiments have so far failed to yield positive evidence in 

 this direction, I have obtained certain results which seem 

 worth recording for their own sake. 



My first attempts concerned themselves with the possible 

 formation of an aluminic-ferric complex, by the hydrolysis 

 of the mixed chlorides. Solutions representing systematic 

 variations in concentration and relative proportion of ferric 

 and aluminic hydroxides were observed for several years and 

 finally analyzed, with the result that I am convinced that no 

 aluminum is carried down permanently combined with basic 

 ferric chlorides. Any temporary occlusion is compensated on 

 standing with the supernatant acid solution of ferric chloride. 



But a complexity of these two bases might be indicated, 

 if the behavior of ferric chloride toward reducing agents 

 were affected by aluminic chloride, especially since the latter 

 would hardly be likely to figure as a chlorine-carrier in dilute 

 solutions. When these experiments yielded a positive result, 



1 Reprinted from Orig. Com. Eighth International Congress of Applied Chemistry, 

 26, 601 (1912). 



