47Q 



NA TURE 



[OCTOBER 7, I922 



early attention, is the attitude the Post Office is taking 

 in connexion with the issue of licences for experimental 

 work. In the official statement, to which reference has 

 already been made, it is indicated that the Postmaster- 

 General intends in future to issue licences for experi- 

 mental stations alone to those who can satisfy him 

 that they have a sufficient knowledge of the subject 

 to enable them to make a proper use of such licences. 

 It is surmised in some quarters that this departmental 

 rule has been framed with the view of restricting the 

 grant of licences for experimental work alone to trained 

 scientific workers. In the interests of the progress 

 of science it is essential that the terms and conditions 

 under which it is possible to obtain a licence for experi- 

 mental work shall not be made so exacting and stringent 

 as to exclude the amateur from the field of wireless 

 research. 



The requirements in relation to the issue of licences for 

 experimental stations are definitely laid down in clause 2 

 of the Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1904 (4 Ed. 7, c. 24), 

 wherein it is provided that " where the applicant for 

 a licence proves to the satisfaction of the Postmaster- 

 General that the sole object of obtaining the licence 

 is to enable him to conduct experiments in wireless 

 telegraphy, a licence for that purpose shall be granted, 

 subject to such special terms, conditions and restric- 

 tions as the Postmaster-General may think proper, 

 but shall not be subject to any rent or royalty." 

 The language used in this clause is sufficiently clear 

 to show that it cannot have been the intention of the 

 legislature in any way to penalise the amateur experi- 

 mentalist in connexion with the procuring of a licence 

 for experimental work. In the matter of the grant 

 of such licences the amateur experimentalist and the 

 trained scientific worker have an equal claim upon 

 the Postmaster-General, provided that they can prove 

 to his satisfaction that the station which they desire 

 to equip is an experimental one, in contradistinction 

 to one fitted up for commercial work. The amateur 

 should receive the fullest encouragement and considera- 

 tion from the Post Office. Mischief will alone result 

 should the steps which the Postmaster-General and 

 his advisers are contemplating with regard to the issue 

 of licences for experimental work have the unfortunate 

 effect of moving amateurs to evade the official regula- 

 tions and the provisions of the Wireless Telegraphy 

 Act, 1904. 



The Problem of Solution. 



THE problem of solution has engaged the attention 

 of many men of science from the time of Newton 

 to the present day, and it cannot be said that a complete 

 NO. 2762, VOL. I 10] 



and all-embracing theory has yet been advanced that 

 will interpret all the observed facts. The subject 

 lends itself admirably to those who concern them- 

 selves with pointing out weaknesses of accepted con- 

 ceptions without replacing these ideas by adequate 

 substitutes. 



A contributor, writing under the pseudonym Dr. B. 

 Lagueur, in the Chemical Age of September 2, very ably 

 and wittily adopts the style of the " Compleat Angler," 

 and produces an imaginary conversation between a 

 " Chymist " (baptised Henry), in whose chemical 

 philosophy there has not arisen the necessity of adopting 

 the ionic hypothesis, and a " Friend," who, being a 

 creation of the author and therefore fundamentally 

 of similar persuasion, is unable to make a satisfactory 

 case for its adoption. 



Of the theories advocated it is now generally recog- 

 nised that the older conception of hydrate formation 

 is insufficient to account for the experimental results 

 obtained. The hydrone theory of Armstrong appears 

 to be that beloved of the " Chymist," and explains 

 solution by assuming the existence of new molecules 

 formed by the union of the water with the solute. It 

 has a certain measure of experimental support, but, 

 despite this, despite the known complexity of water, 

 and despite the crystal work of Bragg, it embodies a 

 number of assumptions difficult to verify, and by 

 itself is scarcely likely to displace the more firmly 

 established hypothesis of Arrhenius, which, though 

 revolutionary, imperfect, and easily attacked, yet 

 fulfils the functions of a hypothesis, and therefore 

 serves a useful purpose. 



The ionic hypothesis has explained many facts 

 hitherto extremely puzzling ; it has opened out new 

 lines of research, and " as a working hypothesis gives 

 qualitative and quantitative explanation of a large 

 number of chemical phenomena which can otherwise 

 only be accounted for in a vague and unsatisfactory 

 way." The solvate theory — a combination of the 

 original ionic hypothesis with the hydrate and hydrone 

 conceptions — has been the outcome of a long series of 

 experiments on solution by Jones and his collaborators 

 in America. The ionic hypothesis, shorn of the frills 

 and furbelows given to it by enthusiasts, is generally 

 accepted with certain mental reservations as to the 

 existence of ions, except by those who, as Jones says, 

 " oppose it after a careful study of the facts or are 

 unable or indisposed to adapt themselves to new 

 ideas." 



Many hypotheses are at best unstable and transient, 

 but before any are discarded they must be killed, and 

 the death of the theory of electrolytic dissociation is 

 not yet, notwithstanding the thrusts given to it in the 

 article in our contemporary. 



