RELATIONS TO OTHER SCIENCES 153 



energy given by the kinetic theory, the free particles ought to be 

 more numerous in it. 



(49) Chemical Phenomena. It is by an action of the same kind that 

 water, of great specific inductive capacity (smaller, however, than 

 that of metals) causes the electrolytic dissociation of salts that are 

 dissolved in it; it would be of great interest to determine the relation 

 between this electrolytic dissociation, especially of liquid conductors, 

 and the corpuscular dissociation common probably to gases and 

 metals. 



In electrolytic dissociation, the cathode corpuscles lost by the 

 metallic atoms, instead of remaining free as in corpuscular dissocia- 

 tion, remain united to an atom or to a radical to form the negative 

 ion in electrolytes. This question touches the relations between our 

 actual ideas and chemistry, relations still very obscure, and which it 

 would be very important to clear up. The electric dissociation pro- 

 duced in gases by Roentgen rays does not appear connected with 

 any chemical modification; however, in air all intense ionization is 

 accompanied by the formation of ozone. Here is a domain almost 

 entirely unexplored. 



X. Magnetic Properties 



(50) Ampere and Weber. However, the complex phenomena of 

 magnetism and diamagnetism have seemed so far to lead us to ex- 

 pect more difficulties, although the electrons gravitating in the atom 

 in closed orbits furnish at first sight a simple representation of the 

 molecular currents of Ampere, capable of turning under the action 

 of an external magnetic field in order to give birth to induced 

 magnetism, or of reacting by induction, according to the idea of 

 Weber, against the external field so as to make the substance dia- 

 magnetic. 



Those who have tried to follow out this idea have found it so far 

 sterile; independently, different physicists have come to the conclu- 

 sion that the hypothesis of electrons in undiminished motion cannot 

 furnish a representation of the permanent phenomena of magnetism 

 or diamagnetism. 



I am enough of a parvenu to attempt to show, contrary to the 

 preceding opinion, that it is possible to give, by means of the electrons, 

 an exact signification to the ideas of Ampere and Weber, to find 

 for para- and diamagnetism completely distinct interpretations, 

 conforming to the laws experimentally established by Curie: weak 

 magnetism, an attenuated form of ferromagnetism, varies inversely as 

 the absolute temperature; on the other hand diamagnetism is shown 

 to be, in all observed cases with the exception of bismuth, rigorously 

 independent of the temperature. The theory which I propose takes 



