738 REPORT—1885. 
salt of some metal more electropositive than hydrogen—for instance, 
Glauber’s salts. Neither Na nor SO, can be liberated—the liberated 
ions must be H and O ; but the water is not merely primarily decomposed, 
Na,SO, shares in the conduction of the current, and accordingly secondary 
actions go on, forming acid at anode and alkali at cathode, as is perfectly 
well known. The last table gives every detail of the action, and points 
out that in order to determine experimentally how much of the current 
is conveyed by the salt and how much by the water we have only to 
measure either the amount of acid or the amount of alkali produced. 
For in this case a/ =c/ =1; a=c=0; the production of acid is 
a + y =X, the proportion of current conveyed by the salt ; and the pro- 
duction of alkali is precisely equivalent. 
General Theory of Multiple Electrolysis. 
It is now only a matter of writing to make a table for the most general 
case of electrolysis of a single liquid containing any number of substances. 
It is not much use now excluding double decomposition, and we will 
begin by letting the liberated ions be the most complicated mixture 
possible. 
Mix together the substances AO, + A.0, +... + A, C,,; the result 
cof the mixing is that each anion is liable to be combined with all the 
ications, forming A,C, + A,C, +..., and so on for the others ; say A, =C 
+A,50 +... .; or altogether 2A.2C. 
| Let the liberated ions be a), @,... a, equivalents of A,, Ay,... &e. 
land c,, Co, . . » Cy equivalents of C,, Co, . . ., &c. respectively. 
Let the mass-velocities of the independent ions be 
@j, @, . . . a, for the anions, 
and Yi> Yo) + + + Yn for the cations. 
‘Then the following equations hold among the quantities :— 
Fa a= 1, 
La + Sy=1; 
and, if it is worth while attempting to specify how much of the current 
each substance conveys, 
a + y=A3 Gat 72 =Aas- + » ke. 
(Further, if my notion is true that an electric current necessarily con- 
sists of equal positive and negative currents, Sa = Sy. I even venture 
to think it probable that a, = y, 2 = Yo; &c. See below. | 
Now the portion of above table referring to the loss of elements is 
simple enough :— 
Element Amount lost in cathode vessel | Amount lost in anode vessel 
Ay Re Dy 
2 pe Coes 
C, 4-7; n 
C 
: eae % 
But when you come to the compounds there is no definiteness; by reason 
