54 Dr. Meyer Wilderman on the Velocity of 



formulated by Helm (die Lehre von tier Unergie, Leipzig,. 

 1887) and by Ostwald (in his different publications ; see 

 Lelirbucli der allgemelnen Chemie, 1893, pp. 46—49) on the 

 basis of their general conception of the intensity and capacity 

 factors of each kind of energy, thus : — " Each kind of energy 

 strives to pass from the place in which it is of a higher intensity 

 (or potential) to places in which it is of a lower intensity (or 

 potential) ," presuming that there are no factors counteracting 

 to this passage of energy (Helm) ; also in this more defined 

 form : — "In order that something should happen in nature it 

 is a necessary condition that the 'intensity of the energy present 

 should be in different places different. This condition is, how- 

 ever, only sufficient when the difference of the intensity of the 

 given energy is not compensated or balanced by the difference of 

 intensity of another kind of energy " (Ostwald). As we see y 

 this is an attempt to make the most general application to all 

 kinds of energy of the principle contained in the second law 

 of thermodynamics ; as first formulated by Clausius, " heat 

 can only pass from a higher temperature to a lower/' 



1 now wish to show that the second law of thermodynamics 

 as applied to the potentials of all kinds of energy is super- 

 seded by another more general law, when one and the same 

 variable of composition in the equation (12) or (15) is 

 affected by more than one potential. It is not difficult to 

 show that this can be the case. In the above equation of Gibbs 

 it is assumed that the system is under no influence of gravity, 

 that no external energy — such as light or electric waves — 

 is passing through it, and that it has no magnetic properties, 

 &c. Now it is evident that if the element of the mass of the 

 homogeneous system be Dm, if h be its height over the hori- 

 zontal plane, and g the constant of gravitation, the element Dm 

 will not only have a chemical potential fi, but also a potential 

 under the influence of gravity gh ; if it has magnetic properties 

 it will have a potential v, to account for this kind of energy 

 connected with matter; if linht or electric waves are passing 

 through the system — as will be seen later on from a research 

 on light by Dr. Ludwig Mond and myself — the element 

 acquires a new additional kinetic potential \. Now let Dm 

 be an element of the homogeneous system, consisting of the 

 substance S 1? S 2 , . . . S». Then 



Dm = Dm 1 -\-Dm 2 . . . -\- Dm n , 



where wi ls rn 2 . . . m n are the independent components of the 

 system. Let the energy of the element Dm independently of 

 gravitation &c. be De, its gravitation energy gliDm, its 

 kinetic energy produced by the exposure of the system to 



