THE MISCIBILITY OF LIQUIDS. 



163 



doubtful, the conclusions are strikingly in accord with the 

 experimental results, and it is astonishing that this valu- 

 able work has not hitherto been made more use of by 

 chemists. Holmes arranges liquids in the order of the radii 

 of their respective molecular volumes and this molecular 

 volume list really assumes the importance of a miscibility 

 table. 



Holmes' Table. 



Molecular Radius 



Molecular Radius 



compa 



fed with water. 



compared with water. 



Water 



. 1 



/ Aniline 



.. 1-72 



Glycerol ... 



. 1 



\ n- Butyl alcohol 



.. 1-72 



Formic acid 



. 1-28 



< n-Butyric acid 



.. 1-72 



Methyl alcohol .. 



. 1-31 



/ isobutyl aicohol 



.. 1-72 



Diethyl tartrate . 



. 1-33 



I isobutyric acid 



.. 1-72 



Acetic acid 



. 1-47 



Ethyl acetate 



.. 1-76 



Ethyl alcohol 



. 1-48 



Ethyl ether 



.. 1-80 



/ Propionic acid 

 -| Acetone ... 



. 1-60 



n-Amyl alcohol 



.. 1-82 



. 1-60 



Methyl iodide 



.. i:9i 



( n-Propyl alcohol .. 



. 1-60 



Chloroform 



.. 2-07 



Pyridine ... 



. 1-64 



Ethyl iodide 



.. 2-08 



Nicotine ... 



. 1-65 



Benzene 



.. 2-14 



Phenol 



. 1-70 



Carbon disulphide 



.. 2-37 







n-Hexane ... 



... 2-43 







n- Heptane ... 



... 2-53 



Dealing first with single (liquids) substances only, the 

 following question arises: — "Would it be possible to take 

 all (single) liquids, and arrange them in order in a table, 

 such that the relative miscibility of any one of them (say 

 A) with respect to any other (B) could be predicted?" This 

 question can only be fully answered by experiment with all 

 liquids. We have tested a somewhat larger number of 

 liquids than Holmes, and for the liquids examined there 

 seems little doubt that each has a fairly definite place on a 

 list of liquids, such that its behaviour with respect to 

 others can be predicted. When A dissolves to any extent 

 in B, and B in A, to form two layers, even a small amount 



