284 HEPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. 



, oAi Kullgren agreed that the retarding influence of alcohol on the 



hydrolysis of ethyl acetate ' is also due to a diminution of the 

 active part, but held that the influence of sugars on the same action is 

 due to a different cause, viz., combination of the sugar with the alkali, 

 thus I'endering it inactive. 



■tnoa The author has shown that the influence of alcohol is in no 



way peculiar in comparison with that of other non-electrolytes. In 

 volume-normal solution, indeed, the introduction of small quantities of 

 alcolio! produces no diminution in velocity but in weight-normal solutions 

 a diminution is always observed. The dehydrating effect of alcohol is 

 thus completely overmasked by the diminution due to its combination 

 with the acid to form alcoholates. The large solubility of HCl in alcohol 

 and the formation of conducting solutions confirms the impression that 

 alcoholates are easily formed . It is obvious that alcoholates will be formed 

 with various acids to varying extents and hence the proportionate decrease 

 in the case of sulphuric acid, for example, should not be the same as for 

 hydrochloric — a result noted by Kablukow and Zacconi. 



J. — Injltience of Neutral Electrolytes on Inversion Velocity. 



It was first pointed out by Lowenthal and Lenssen that a neutral salt of 

 ,Qp.-, an acid, although unable to effect any hydrolysis of itself, is able 



to increase the hydrolytic action of its parent acid. This 

 property they attributed to the concentration of the acid by the salt, 

 partly by displacement of water by virtue of its bulk and partly by the 

 formation of hydrated salt molecules ; also, possibly, to the formation of 

 double salts. 

 1 nof- Spohr, who had helped Ostwald with his later measurements, 



further investigated the action of neutral salts and argued that 

 Lowenthal and Lenssen's explanation that the salts stimulate the acids in 

 virtue of their water-binding power is wrong, because he found that in the 

 case of weak acids the presence of a neutral salt has an unfavourable effect.* 

 iSpohr also showed that the accelerating effect of a salt on a strong acid 

 -lOQc- is less at a higher temperature. With bi-basic acids the case is 



complicated by the formation of acid salts. The acceleration is to 

 be observed in weight-normal as well as volume-normal solutions. 

 1 Qon In his last paper Spohr gives further experiments on the influence 



of salts on the inversion of sugar and also on the saponification of 

 ethyl acetate by KOH. He then attempts to explain the action of salts 

 on the Williamson-Clausius dissociation hypothesis, supposing that the 

 inversion is brought about by nascent H and OH radicles, 

 i^qi Speransky showed that the addition of a salt of a strong acid, 



such as NaCl, can increase the rate of inversion by a weak acid 

 like acetic or lactic acid. 

 1 ooQ Arrhenius, in his well-known memoir, explained the action of 



^& 



endeavoured to show that this property is an additive one for the ions of 

 1 QQo the added salt. Later on he stated more definitely that the neutral 

 salt increases the osmotic pressure of the sugar in solution and, 

 consequently, the ' active part ' also. In support of this idea he quoted 

 Abegg, who had shown that a mixture of two substances frequently has 



' Zeit$. Physik. Chem., 37. ' Vide Speransky, infra. 



