ON GASEOUS COMBUSTION. 505 



physicists, would seem capable of explaining- certain of the phenomena 

 of surface combustion; as, for example, the quite abnormal retarding 

 influence of moisture referred to in the report. But before any such 

 idea can be confidently adopted as a working hypothesis by chemists, 

 it will be necessary for physicists to define more clearly than they have 

 done hitherto the function and significance of the supposed 'electrons' 

 in chemical interchanges. Prom the chemists' standpoint, a clear state- 

 ment of the physicists' views in relation to these matters is urgently 

 needed, and, if forthcoming, would considerably enlarge the field of 

 immediate experimental inquiry. 



