55-i HINRICHS— TRUE ATOMIC WEIGHT OF BROMINE. [April 4, 



ments of general formula really go back to 1894 in my " The Atomic 

 Weights," pp. 157-161. On p. 159 will be found the formula (42) 

 for the chemical pertui^'bation, essentially the same as the one we 

 have been using for a number of years. 



In fact, it would be interesting to trace the development we have 

 been able to make of the method of Lagrange so renowned with 

 mathematicians and astronomers under the name of " The Method 

 of the A'ariation of the Arbitrary Constants." 



Our simplest formula, obtained by means of Taylor's most 

 general formula, for m chemical elements present in the reaction, is 



2eA=iooe. (4) 



Treating the effect of the elements ex-asquo, this equation 

 becomes 



me^=iooe, (5) 



or simply 



e = ^e; (6) 



if we introduce the increment 2 as defined above 



2=ioo/;nA, (7) 



which also may be defined as the departure per unit of the excess e. 

 In the case under consideration we have the variation determined 

 in VIII., while the number of elements present (m) is 2 (Br and H) ; 

 hence the third reaction (the sharpest) gives the values of the de- 

 partures presented in the next section XI. as Table V. 



XI. Summary of Results Obtained for the Reaction 

 ie = Br:HBr. 



TABLE V. 



I. The Arbitrary Constants a. ({, e., the Absolute Atomic Weight) and 

 THEIR Variation .(A^ 2). 



Elements 

 Br H 



Absolute atomic weight, a 80 1.008 



Variation, A (units of fifth place) 1.5 — 121.8 



Increment, 2 (units of third place) 33i — 0.41 



Departure, e, by e 33^6 — 0.4ie 



