NOVEMBEK 5, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



655 



In support of tliis, it is shown that the total 

 heat energy at the melting point of metals in 

 which the molecule probably consists of one 

 or but few atoms can be found by doubling 

 the latent heat of melting (20 while the total 

 heat energy of the liquid at the same point 

 can be found by trebling the latent heat of 

 melting (30. 



The author further shows that the amount 

 of heat energy of a solid body thus calculated 

 is equivalent to the total kinetic energy 

 {Mv^/2) of the molecules, calculated from the 

 molecular velocity of the body, which velocity 

 is determined in the same manner as is done 

 in case of gaseous bodies in accordance with 

 the kinetic gas theory. 



As another proof of the author's assertions 

 it is shovm that the heat energy of many 

 solid bodies calculated by multiplying the ab- 

 solute temperature degrees of the melting 

 point with an amended specific heat {Ts) is 

 found to be practically identical with the 

 energy quantities (20 and (il/vV2) found as 

 before stated. 



Tables are submitted illustrating these con- 

 ditions for mercury, silver, cadmium, tin, bis- 

 muth, potassium and platinum. 



It is also shown in another table that chem- 

 ical combinations such as water, saltpeter 

 and chloral-hydrate follow the same rule if 

 the splitting of their molecule at melting is 

 duly considered. 



To further establish the identity of prin- 

 ciples of the kinetics of solids and gases a 

 third table demonstrates that the interior 

 energies of the permanent gases can be calcu- 

 lated with correct results on the basis of 

 molecular velocities deducted from the latent 

 heat of melting of solids. 



As another corollary an original experi- 

 ment is quoted according to which a drop of 

 water is suspended in a liquid of equal spe- 

 cific gravity below its freezing-point when the 

 globular form of the drop at once changes 

 into an ellipsoidal form as soon as it freezes, 

 showing that the abstraction of the latent 

 heat of melting is accompanied by a great loss 

 of energy in the perpendicular direction. 



Some of the principal results of these in- 



vestigations may, according to the author's 

 summary, be itemized as follows: 



1. The absolute zero of temperature — 273° 

 Cels. as derived from the kinetic conditions 

 of gases may be derived from the kinetic con- 

 ditions (molecular movements) of solids by 

 identical processes of reasoning and calcula- 

 tion. 



2. In the case of many solid elements, as 

 well as also for many combinations of simple 

 constitution, their total internal heat energy 

 is chiefly kinetic energy approximately ex- 

 pressible by the product of their corrected 

 specific heat with the absolute tempera- 

 ture {Ts^). 



3. The heat energy of such solid elements 

 at their melting-points may likewise be ex- 

 pressed approximately by doubling their la- 

 tent heat of melting (2Z) and in the case of 

 chemical combinations in which the molecule 

 splits during the melting by IZ. The total 

 heat energy of the liquid body at its melting- 

 point being three times its actual latent of 

 melting (3Z). 



4. The molecular velocities of solids may be 

 calculated from the same principles on which 

 the kinetic theory of permanent gases is 

 based. 



5. The total kinetic energy of a body cal- 

 culated according to these velocities is ap- 

 proximately the same as that derived from 

 the latent heat of melting and also the same 

 as that derived from the corrected specific 

 heat multiplied with the absolute tempera- 

 ture. 



6. The three different arithmetical expres- 

 sions for the kinetic energy of a solid body at 

 its melting-point, viz., Ts 21 and Mv'/2, every 

 one of which is derived from different experi- 

 mental data and by different processes of 

 reasoning give approximately identical re- 

 sults, thereby making all conditions of matter 

 amenable to the same general kinetic prin- 

 ciples, at least with respect to the substances 

 under consideration in this treatise. 



7. The molecular constitution of solid 

 bodies is not essentially different, and in some 

 cases apparently even less complex, than that 

 of gaseous bodies, so that the translatory 



