866 Prof. Clausius on the Difference between 



in its subsequent existence which correspond to this electrical 

 antithesis, and hence I assumed that the electro-positive or 

 electro-negative condition which the atoms have at the moment 

 of separation are afterwards lost, and the atoms become electri- 

 cally neutral. It will, however, be admitted that this assump- 

 tion was not necessarily implied in the idea at the basis of my 

 explanation, but that it was only a collateral assumption, which 

 was resorted to in order to satisfy the then known state of things. 

 Hence, when required by our improved knowledge, it can be 

 given up and changed without touching the fundamental idea 

 of my explanation. 



In chemistry the cases are frequent in which a given quan- 

 tity of oxygen completely unites with another substance, and in 

 such a manner that all atoms of this oxygen are contained in 

 the same manner, and must hence all have one and the same 

 electrical condition, in most cases the electro-negative. Now if, 

 according to the above assumption, in the oxygen before it 

 enters into combination, half the atoms are positively, and the 

 other half negatively electrical, when the compound is formed 

 half the atoms must change their electrical condition. Inversely, 

 cases occur in which oxygen is separated from a compound, and 

 in which at the moment of separation, as may be assumed, all 

 atoms have the same electrical conditions; while afterwards, 

 when the liberated oxygen has passed into its ordinary con- 

 dition, half the atoms, according to the assumption, are positive 

 and half negative. According to this, the electrical difference 

 of the oxygen-atoms must not be so conceived as if there were 

 two kinds of oxygen-atoms, of which, once for all, one kind are 

 electro-positive and the other kind electro-negative; but the 

 possibility of a passage from one condition to the other must be 

 conceded. 



Herein the possibility is implied that the atoms, momenta- 

 rily at all events, may be in intermediate conditions, and, among 

 others, may be unelectrical. But whether the transition always 

 takes place suddenly, or whether the atoms can remain in these 

 intermediate conditions for a long time and gradually pass from 

 one to the other, is not thereby decided, and can only be con- 

 cluded by observation. 



With reference to ozone in the restricted sense, the facts 

 recently observed by Schonbein seem to show that the active 

 atoms which form ozone are electro-negative, and retain this 

 condition unchanged as long as ozone, as such, exists. But what 

 the condition of antozone is in reference to the permanence of 

 its electrical condition, cannot with certainty be concluded from 

 the facts hitherto known. 



The second point, in which I consider I must somewhat alter 



