ON ELECTROLYSIS IN ITS PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL BEARINGS. 383 



Clausius and Williamson is that there exist circular continuous currents. In these 

 currents the active parts alone participate. 



' The molecules participating in such currents are necessarily decomposed, accord- 

 ing to the scheme of double decomposition, and the result is that new electrolytes 

 are formed. On this basis we have built a chemical theory of electrolytes which, 

 deduced from very probable sources, possesses also a high degree of probability. 

 This theory leads to formulae applicable to chemical processes, formulae very con- 

 formable to those proposed by MM. Guldberg and Waage,* which have been 

 •verified by a great number of experiments. We have also pointed out that the 

 results of this theory agree very accurately with the opinions of Berthollet. 



' As a provisional hypothesis we have supposed the coefRcient of activity equal 

 to the molecular conductivity. The figures calculated on this supposition, and the 

 reactions thus foreseen, agree very well with experimental facts. We have also 

 from this theory deduced a number of electro-chemical laws, among others the 

 laws of Faraday and Hittorf ; as well as, by aid of the hypothesis that every 

 electrolyte has a constant composition, we have proved the necessity for the exist- 

 €nce of equivalent weights of every substance playing the part of an ion (law of 

 Eichter). From data on the variations of conductivity and of solubility we have 

 indicated the reason of a number of phenomena which are set up in equilibrating 

 systems, by dilution, by heating, and by addition of foreign bodies. Finally we 

 have, by aid of an hypothesis very probable in the present state of thermo-che- 

 mistry, deduced the principal propositions of therm o-chemistry (among others the 

 *' principle of maximum work ") ; propositions which, however, by reason of the 

 mode of their deduction, are not valid in every case, but only " in general." Also 

 we have indicated the nature of chemical energy, as analogous to that of latent 

 heat ; an indication with which specific heats, latent heats, and the phenomena of 

 dissociation, correspond. 



' All these propositions, and all these laws, are taken from the most different de- 

 partments of chemical science ; but as the theory agrees so well with reality in 

 these diflferent points, it seems probable that it ought to do so also in intermediate 

 regions. Moreover, we have tried to prove that the differences between this theory 

 and that which, after the examination of M. Lothar Meyer, is now the most pro- 

 bable, relate to opinions of the authors of the said theory, which to a deeper exa- 

 mination show themselves unsustainable either from the theoretical or the 

 experimental point of view. We have thus approached the theory of Berthollet 

 more nearly than MM. Guldberg and Waage have done. And this circumstance 

 speaks, we believe, in favour of the above-developed theory. But,there are considera- 

 tions of greater importance. The theory of Guldberg and "Waage (still less any other 

 theory) cannot in its present state deduce more than a fraction of the propositions 

 and laws given above. The constants necessary for the prevision of reactions can, 

 according to the new theory, be approximately deduced from other constants 

 known in other branches of science. Some of the propositions given above, and 

 agreeing with fact, are contrary to the views of MM. Guldberg and Waage. The 

 difficulty inherent in every theory of electrolysis, and also in the hypothesis of 

 Clausius and Williamson in its primitive form, is totally removed by the new 

 theory. Since, moreover, the theory given above is built on a substantial foundation, 

 and is totally free from every hypothesis of an affinity different from physical forces, 

 it is not doubtful, we think, that it will be preferred to all chemical theories 

 hitherto published. 



' True, one might object that this theory is only applicable to electrolytes, while 

 previous ones have embraced all substances. 



' The probability of the correctness of the theory is increased to a high degree by 

 the fact that in deducing the formulae given above we ignored completely those of 

 MM. Guldberg and Waage, formula of whose existence we had no knowledge before 

 obtaining the work of M. Lothar Meyer (which only happened after the greatest part 

 of this memoir had already been written). Thus we have found these formulae without 

 any occasion to construct them in some preconceived manner, and guided solely by 

 the theory of Clausius and Williamson, and by the notion of an active and an inactive 

 state of electrolytes. [Author's note.] 



