F 



Z//r^_ 



TI/i: BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



45 



the One whose action we are most familiar is water. 



This 



inp 



substances 



1 



fluid: 

 th 



fluid dissolves a great variety of different substances. 

 And although the materials so dissolved lose the 

 ^^! characteristics which distinguished them as solid ag- 

 gregates — such as form^ hardness, specific gravity, and 

 other physical qualities — the actual matter is still there^ 

 in a state of molecular diffusion and with all its 





IS 



rties of 



tive chemicald chemical properties comparatively unaltered. It 

 ^^ samCj in wk recoverable, also, in the form of a solid aggregate 



A 



' at the timeei either by the dissipation of the water by means of 

 '. heat, or else by the use of reagents for which the 



solution also !: molecules of water have a stronger affinity. 

 ers which om Many elementary substances and compounds that 



vidual and sr ^^.nnot be made by the agency of heat to assume the 



1 ] fluid form (as well as many which can be so reduced) 



imc, more intit 

 Dlvent. The a 

 >, though that 



,nd their vapours li 



are dissolved by immersion in water. And just as in- 

 numerable variations are met with in the behaviour 

 of diflFerent simple and compound substances under the 

 influence of a given degree of heat, so innumerable 

 variations exist in the behaviour of different substances 

 when brought into contact with water of a given tem- 



Matter/ in^^^^^"^ perature. Some are very soluble, some less soluble, and 



. J , The vaporo'^^ 



others quite insoluble ; these differences being depen- 



t to decoDip^' 



^r^ . .,.-o(J' dent upon the different properties of the molecules of 





vap 



orous 



the substances in relation to those of water. A union, 



which can only be termed chemical, takes place between 



)f the b^^f ■ ' elf the molecules of the substance dissolved and that of its 



lon2 ^''«^^"^'' 



3 



% 



. inch thick, f;^ 



pour. 



4 



The 



the t»" 

 Lir times the^^ ^ 



'■ P 



o-vver 



ofti^^ 



solvent! ^ though where these molecules are complex, 



^ Speaking of the force which determines solution, Mr. Sorby says. 



44') 



