TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION B. 977 
2. Description of a new Mineral from Loch Bhruithaich, Inverness-shire. 
By W. Ivison Macapam, F.C.S., and THomas WALLACE. 
3. Hehibition and Description of the Apparatus employed in obtaining 
Oxygen and Nitrogen from the Atmosphere. Description of Method 
used in converting atmospheric Nitrogen into Ammonia. By Messrs. 
Brin Brothers. 
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14. 
The following Report and Papers were read :— 
1. Report of the Committee on Chemical Nomenclature. 
See Reports, p. 262. 
2. On Electrolysis. By Professor Oiver J. Lope, D.Sc. 
See Reports, p. 723. 
3. On Helmholtz’s views on Electrolysis, and on the Electrolysis of Gases. 
By Professor Scuuster, F.R.S. 
The author explained some of the views expressed by Helmholtz in his recent 
papers on electric polarisation and electromotive force, remarking that the Presi- 
dent of the Chemical Section had, in his opening address, already drawn attention to 
the bearing which these views have on chemical theories. The fundamental notion 
of Helmholtz consists in the assumption of a different attraction of chemical elements 
for positive and negative electricity. If this is admitted, the difficulties which have 
been felt in explaining electromotive force of contact disappear. In compound 
bodies like water, the hydrogen is positively electrified ; the oxygen, on the other 
hand, is charged with negative electricity. If an electromotive force acts on the 
liquid, the positively charged atom is driven to the negative pole, and the oxygen 
to the positive pole. 
This motion is called forth by any electromotive force, however small, and no 
work is done except that due to overcoming of the internal resistance. The posi- 
tively charged hydrogen atom covers the negative electrode, but does not constitute 
free hydrogen. When the electromotive force is sufficiently strong, an interchange 
of electricity takes place between the pole and the ion, and then only can the 
hydrogen separate out. 
A large amount of work has to be done to separate the positive charge from the 
hydrogen. In all decompositions where the elements separate out in a neutral 
state, it would seem, if these views are correct, that before decomposition an inter- 
change of electricity must take place. Thus, for instance, when aqueous vapour is 
dissociated by heat, the oxygen must give up its free electricity before it can form 
neutral oxygen molecules, The conversion of stannic into stannous chloride, men- 
tioned by the President, would have to be accompanied by an interchange of a 
negative charge on the chlorine with a positive charge on one of the atoms of tin, 
leaving then both neutral chlorine and neutral stannous chloride. 
With respect to the question of rates at which the ions travelled, Professor 
Schuster thought Professor Lodge had not laid sufficient stress on the remarkable 
result arrived at by Kohlrausch, that in dilute aqueous solutions, and for a given 
intensity of current, each element had its own rate of travelling, which was inde- 
pendent of the other ion; thus the barium atom travelled at the same rate whether 
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