2 Taylor, Hypoiodous Acid and Hypoiodites. 



The more important of these is that by Schonbein, and 

 in the first part of this paper I shall describe some of 

 Schonbein's experiments, with others which I have per- 

 formed and which confirm and extend his results. I 

 shall refer to the work of Lunge and Schoch afterwards. 

 I find that Schonbein, in his experiments, used the very 

 solution which I have already mentioned as giving such 

 remarkable results, that is, iodine dissolved in water. 

 Unfortunately, however, Schonbein's paper has been 

 badly summarised in all the standard dictionaries and 

 works on chemistry, and this important point is not 

 usually mentioned. Schonbein's paper is one of a series. 

 He had been trying experiments on the action of chlorine 

 water and bromine water upon dilute ammonia, and then 

 naturally passed on to iodine, using that substance also 

 in solution in water. Such a solution is very dilute, 

 being at the most only about one part in 5,000; but this 

 solution, in many respects, gives more definite results 

 than any other. 



Schonbein first described the action of ammonia upon 

 iodine water, whereby the liquid was decolorised, and 

 a solution obtained which bleached indigo just as the 

 liquids produced by the action of ammonia upon chlorine 

 water and bromine water did. He found, further, that 

 the solution gave a deep blue coloration with a mixture 

 of starch-paste and potassium iodide, and even with 

 starch-paste alone. Left to itself, the liquid lost these 

 peculiarities, more quickly at high than at low tempera- 

 tures, and almost instantaneously when boiled. He then 

 found that similar results were obtained with potash 

 solution, and that both solutions were decomposed by 

 hydrogen peroxide, with manifest liberation of oxygen. 

 He also pointed out that the solutions smelt of saffron. 

 He not unnaturally concluded from these results that 

 the liquids contained hypoiodites, and that the action 



