800 Dr. R. D. Kleeman on the Mature of the 



we will suppose is K iv /wi 1? i£ not influenced by the atom m 2> 

 where K x is a function of the distance of separation of the 

 atoms, being given by the above law. But if the attraction 

 of the atom mi is influenced by that of m 2 in the way 

 described, its attraction becomes 



{ Ki >v/?Wi — KiK 2 y/m x *Jm 2 \ or K 1 y/m 1 { 1 — K2\/ra 2 } , 



where K 2 is a constant which is independent of the distance 

 of separation of the atoms and their atomic weight. Similarly 

 the attraction of the atom ra 2 at the point occupied by the 

 atom nil would be 



Ki A s/m 2 {l — K 2 \Atti}« 



The attraction between the atoms is then the product of 

 these two expressions, that is 



K x 2 s/m 1 s/m 2 \l — K 2 \/m 2 }{l — K 2 yWij"- 



The effect of the interaction of the atoms is thus to decrease 

 the attraction on one another in the ratio 



1 : { 1 — K 2 vm 2 } \ 1 — K2v/mi \ . 



When the molecules have not the same mass, the decrease 

 of the attraction of the one having the larger mass, it will 

 be seen, is less than that of the other. This fits in with 

 some results deduced previously in the paper from experi- 

 mental results. 



We may obtain the above result in another way. The 

 chemical attraction of an atom very probably represents a 

 quantity of energy proportional to the attraction or V ' m. 

 Therefore, when two atoms separated by an infinite distance 

 are approached to one another till they are separated by a 

 given finite distance, a quantity of potential energy equal to 

 K 1 K 2 ^'m 1 \/wi2 disappears from each atom or from the sur- 

 rounding space, where K 2 is a constant and K x a function of 

 the distance of separation of the atoms. The attraction of 

 the atoms upon one another in this position is therefore 



(Krx/rax— K 1 K 2 \/in 1 \/m 2 )(K 1 si m 2 — K X K 2 *Jm 1 \/m 2 ), 

 which is the same expression as obtained before. 



If the chemical attraction of an atom represents a corre- 

 sponding quantity of energy, it follows that when an atom 

 is broken up into two parts which are then separated by an 

 infinite distance, a certain amount of energy must be trans- 

 formed into energy of attraction. Thus if the mass of an 

 atom is (m 1 + m 2 ) its chemical energy would be proportional 

 to V( w i + w* 2 ). When the atom is broken into two of mass m x 



