

of Dilute Solutions of Cane- Sugar and Ethyl Alcohol. 385 



appeared from Nernst and Abegg*, which from its claims 

 has doubtless aroused the interest of all who are studying 

 such problems, and especially of those who are working 

 directly along this line. Disregarding the unusual lack of 

 courtesy which Nernst and Abegg have manifested towards 

 some of those who have at least brought out the difficulties 

 and discrepancies which exist in this field, which they have 

 just entered, and subjecting their paper to a careful study, I 

 am unable to see that they have accomplished all that is 

 claimed in their communication. Some of the more pro- 

 minent reasons for this conclusion will be given. Their 

 correction-term introduced to eliminate errors from stirring 

 &c. appears to me to involve the assumption that K for solu- 

 tions is the same as for water, which assumption is gratuitous 

 and unallowable. 



Again, the experimental work itself, as judged by the 

 apparatus and the results, seems to be far too inaccurate to 

 be satisfactory where the quantities measured are so small, 

 and where slight errors in the results might conceal the whole 

 question under investigation. 



The two series of measurements of the iowerings produced 

 by solutions of sodium chloride, as made by Nernst and 

 Abegg, differ for the same dilution somewhat more than 5 per 

 cent. Why there should have been any difference is not 

 apparent to me ; and still less is it apparent why apparatus 

 and a method which did not yield concordant results for a 

 compound which is as simple to deal with as sodium chloride 

 should have been applied to a delicate problem with the non- 

 electrolytes, which evidently can be solved only by accurate 

 work with very refined methods. 



The results of Nernst and Abegg with ethyl alcohol show 

 a not inconsiderable rise in the molecular lowering with 

 increase in dilution. To bring out this point more clearly 

 their results are given. 



Concentration. Lowering. Molecular 



a ° Lowering. 



0-0185 0-0365 1'97 



0-0364 0-0685 1-88 



0-0703 0-1307 1-86 



0-1316 0-2432 L85 



The point made is not alone that the one value (1*9 7) is 

 higher than the theoretical, but that the molecular lowering 

 increases throughout the series, from the most concentrated 



* Zeit.f, phys. Chem. xv. p. 680. 

 Phil. Mag. S. 5. Vol. 40. No. 245. Oct. 1895. 2 D 



