666 



REPORT 1892. 



— what we do not imderstand ? If ' residual affinity ' really exists, it must reside 

 in the oxygen of the water, or in the hj^drogen, or in both ; if so, what will happen 

 to some of the complex constitutional formulae of the organic chemist in which 

 the carbon is tetrad, the oxygen dyad, and the hydrogen monad ? If any of these 

 elements have a residual affinity should we not expect to find additional unions 

 between some of the atoms of the same molecule over and above those repre- 

 sented by the formula ? 



Oxygen may be tetrad, for which there is evidence in OAg^. Under these cir- 

 cumstances water is by no means a saturated compound, and there would be no 

 difficulty in explaining the combination of water with oxygen salts. Thus crys- 

 tallised magnesic sulphate, MgSO^, TOH, or SOHo.jMgo", eOH^ would be — 



H 



H 



and sodic sulphate, Na.,SOj, lOOH^ 



H 



I 

 H— O 



H 



Na- 



-0- 



H 



I 

 -0— H 



H 



/ 



O 



II 



-S- 



-0- 



-Na 



H— 



I 



H 

 H 



H— 0— 



I 

 H 



O 



X 



O— H 



I 



H 

 H 



-0— H 



I 

 H 



