NO. II 



STRUCTURE OF THE ATOM PARSON 



31 



that in H-fCl) the neutral bond. 1 Diagrammatically the mole- 

 cules H — H and H -tCl) may be represented: 



GO- 



1 In the case of the neutral bond, this formal terminology becomes somewhat 

 artificial, and possibly misleading — for it is exactly there that an electric 

 polarity is developed in the molecule by the transfer of a magneton. On 

 the other hand, this bond has closely associated with it the idea of the union 

 of oppositely charged ions to give an electrically neutral molecule. 



But in any case the choice of terminology here is difficult. Perhaps the best, 

 from a descriptive point of view, is that given by Bray and Branch in a paper 

 on " Valence and Tautomerism " ( Journ. Amer. Chem. Soc, 35, 1440-1447, 

 1913). Their "polar bond" is largely identical with the neutral bond here. 

 But it would not be possible to use their term " non-polar " to describe what 

 is here called the positive bond, because the latter can probably be "polar" 

 in a few cases (e. g., in metallic hydrides: these are not discussed in this 

 paper, but see §16; and the present purpose is to classify bonds by the 

 mechanism of their formation rather than by their ultimate effect upon the 

 behavior of the molecule. However, the use of the terms " polar " and " non- 

 polar " in a purely adjectival sense, such as their authors meant, is highly 

 desirable: the negative bond might then be described as " ambi-polar," as I 

 have indicated below. 



The following table of some possible terminologies seems to show that the 

 most formal, besides giving a good synthesis of ideas, is perhaps the safest : 



With regard to these terminologies, objections besides those which I have 

 mentioned will readily suggest themselves. 



