644 On the Electric Origin of Molecular Attraction. 



average uniform neutration in complex molecules or an ap- 

 proximation to it. The electric moment of such a molecule 

 must then be proportional to its volume. But this is one of 

 the main results obtained in " Further Studies," being ex- 

 pressed as follows at the end of section 1: — "As a subsidiary 

 result, it has been shown that the attracting powers of the 

 atoms of CI, Br, I, 0, S, N, and C (C unattached to H) 

 are approximately proportional to their volumes in the 

 combined state. " 



In the complex organic molecule the different atoms and 

 radicals contribute to the limiting volume of the gramme-mole- 

 cule parts which are, on the average, 10 times the part which 

 they contribute to (M^l)*, I being the virial parameter ex- 

 pressed for a gramme of the substance with 10 12 dynes as the 

 unit of force. But the fundamental radical CH 2 has a limiting 

 volume which is 19 times the part it contributes to (M 2 Z)^. On 

 the other hand, the two terminal hydrogen atoms of the 

 paraffin molecule C«H 2w+ 2 seem to possess a ratio 4 instead 

 of 10. For the great majority of gaseous compounds such 

 as C0 2 , S0 2 , C 2 N 2 , and the simpler volatile liquids the ratio 

 B/(M 2 /;* is nearly 10. For a few such substances the ratio 

 is small; thus for H 2 it is 6, for H 2 S it is 7, and for NH 3 

 also 7. It is worth noticing that these are substances pos- 

 sessing remarkable powers of ionizing electrolytes. This 

 power would thus seem to be due to a high intensity of 

 neutration. In the case of electrolytes of the simplest binary 

 type we have B/(M 2 /)^ ranging from 3*3 for LiF to 7*3 

 for BM. On the other hand, the element gases H 2 , 2 , N 2 , 

 and the compound CH 4 have values for this ratio near 19. 

 Now when dissolved in water these are not electrolytes ; and 

 this fact would seem to be due to their small intensity of 

 neutration. In these gases also the attractional virial is — l/v, 

 molecular entanglement during collision is slight. Obviously 

 then intensity of neutration and the related magnitude of 

 electric moment of doublets are important physical properties 

 of substances, requiring detailed study. 



6. Molecular Couples and Gyrostats. 



As to the couples which doublets like magnets exercise on 

 one another, their chief action appears to be that of giving 

 similarity of direction to the electric axes of neighbouring 

 molecules. The question as to whether they may appear in 

 a kinetic theory of solids will require special examination; 

 but as molecular attraction in liquids is of the same order as 

 in solids, and yet the rigidity of liquids is very small indeed, it 



