NATURE 



641 



THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1913. 



THE NERNST FESTSCHRIFT. 

 Festschrift W. Nernst en seinem jiinfunds'wanzig- 

 jdrigen Doktorjubilduni geividmet von seinen 

 Schiilern. Pp. vi + 487. (Halle a.d.S. : Wil- 

 helm Knapp, 1912.) Price 21.60 marks. 



THE present volume of scientific papers, 

 dedicated to Prof. W. Nernst by his 

 present and past pupils on the twenty-fifth anni- 

 versary of his promotion to the doctorate, is a 

 splendid tribute to the success of Nernst as a great 

 investigator and creator of investigators. It con- 

 tains forty-four papers dealing with physico- 

 chemical subjects, many of them of great interest 

 and importance. Their great variety forms a strik- 

 ing testimony to the extraordinary range and scope 

 of the investigations which Nernst himself has 

 personally carried out or directed a^nd supervised. 



Nernst's laboratory at Gottingen first became 

 famous as a centre of electrochemical research, 

 whilst at the present day his laboratory in Berlin 

 is known all the world over as the headquarters 

 of chemical equilibrium and affinity, not to mention 

 molecular and atomic dynamics. His investiga- 

 tions have carried him from the ion of Arrhenius 

 to the energy-quantum of Planck. Everywhere 

 throughout this brilliant career the investigations 

 of Nernst have been of fundamental importance 

 for the growth and development of chemical and 

 physical science. The science of physical chemistry 

 in particular has reaped a bountiful harvest. The 

 physical chemists of the world, in common with 

 many other men of science, will therefore join 

 heartily with Nernst's own pupils in congratu- 

 lating him on the splendid work he has done, and 

 in wishing him many years yet of successful 

 scientific productivity. 



It would be quite impossible in the space at our 

 disposal even to enumerate, much less to describe 

 in detail, the papers published in the Festschrift. 

 This will be apparent when one recollects that it 

 runs to nearly 500 pages. It must suffice, there- 

 fore, to indicate the nature of a few of the most 

 interesting. 



E. Abel has investigated the equilibrium (iodine- 

 hydrolysis) sIo-i-sHoO =: (SH'-t-sI' + IOa' in the 

 presence of sodium acetate. In combination with 

 the work of' Sammet, the results obtained by Abel 

 form one of the most extensive and searching veri- 

 fications of the law of chemical equilibrium in 

 aqueous solutions. 



E. D'Agostino and G. Quagliariello discuss 



mathematically the curve of Log[H'j as a function 



of the number of mols. acid or base added 



to a solution of a base or acid respectively, or 



NO. 2 2.>Q. VOL. Qol 



to a solution of an amphotere. They show both 

 theoretically and by practical numerical examples 

 how the molar concentration, molecular weight, 

 and dissociation-constants of a solution of an un- 

 known acid, base, or amphotere can be deduced 

 from such curves. Their method promises to be 

 of great importance in dealing with proteids. 



P. Askenasy and A. Solberg discuss the thermal 

 decomposition of potassium permanganate. F. 

 Bergius contributes an interesting paper on the 

 formation and dissociation of calcium superoxide. 

 Max Bodenstein and F. Kranendieck conclude 

 from an investigation on the velocity of decom- 

 position of ammonia in quartz vessels that the 

 decomposition occurs in the pores of the quartz 

 glass and is regulated by the diffusion of the 

 ammonia into these pores. 



K. Bornemann finds for the reduction-potential 

 of hydrogen peroxide in aqueous solution 

 €/, = — o'66 + o'03 volt, and for the oxidation- 

 potential €7, = — i'8o + o'03. Both potentials are 

 referred to that of hydrogen in a solution of the 

 same H "-concentration. 



A. Coehn and G. Grote contribute a long and 

 valuable paper on the action of ultra-violet light 

 on aqueous vapour and on electrolytic gas 

 (hydrogen + oxygen). 



R. Hober describes a new method of determin- 

 ing the inner electrical conductivity of blood cells. 

 J. R. Katz applies Nernst's equation for "ideally 

 concentrated " solutions to the phenomena of 

 Qiiellung. Wl. Kistiakowsky gives an interesting 

 account of the effect of motion on electrode- 

 potentials and the phenomena of periodic passivity. 

 F. Krijger discusses the formation of ozone by 

 the silent discharge. F. A. Lindemann, in a most 

 interesting paper, investigates mathematically the 

 forces acting between the atoms of solid bodies. 

 R. Lorenz gives an account of the present position 

 of the question as to the electrolytic dissociation 

 of molten salts. L. Michaelis discusses the iso- 

 electric point of the "electro-amphoteric " colloids. 

 E. and D. Miiller determine the velocity coefficient 

 of chlorate formation by an electrolytic method. 

 X. Parravano and G. Sirovich discuss generally 

 the phenomena of crystallisation in ternary 

 systems. H. Pick contributes some interesting 

 results on the molecular slate and ionisation of 

 aqueous solutions of hydrofluoric acid. R. Ruer 

 and E. Scharff have investigated the effect of light 

 on an anodically charged platinum electrode. 

 O. Sackur discusses from a mathematical point of 

 view the relation of the energy-quantum to the 

 kinetic theory of gases and the calculation of 

 Nernst's chemical constants. 



G. Tammann discusses the effect of temperature 

 on crystalline form. H. v. Wartenberg con- 



B B 



