Xll 1NTROD UCTION. 



vestigator wishing to arrive at profitable results to 

 attack the problem from a new standpoint. Its his- 

 tory, therefore, is not that of a gradual development, 

 but consists of many, in great part incoherent, facts. 

 This characteristic is plainly reflected in the litera- 

 ture. Scattered in all possible periodicals are found 

 researches which, although having the same end in 

 view, frequently diverge considerably in their results. 

 While engaged in investigations on organic electroly- 

 sis and electrosynthesis, I undertook to compile the 

 literature on the subject as completely as possible, at 

 first only for my own guidance. On the supposition 

 that it may be of service to some fellow investigator 

 I publish this resumed Considering the difficulty of 

 becoming acquainted with the entire literature of this 

 field, this publication does not claim to possess an 

 exhaustive completeness. I hope, however, that 

 nothing of importance has been overlooked. While 

 in inorganic electrolysis chief attention is given to the 

 primary processes in the cell, in organic electrolysis 

 the secondary actions claim our special interest, since 

 the factors which are chiefly active in effecting the 

 synthesis or decomposition of organic compounds, 

 i.e., hydrogen, oxygen, etc., are the result of a 

 primary decomposition of the organic electrolyte. In 

 a systematic description of the results obtained it 

 would therefore be better for the sake of clearness 

 not to consider the actual electrolytic processes, but 



