1910. ] with the State of Aggregation of Matter. 103 
were obtained with the sodium organic salts—lactate, acetate, monochlor- 
acetate, dichloracetate, trichloracetate, benzoate. It was found, however, that 
sodium iodide had a much greater disaggregating capacity than, for example, 
sodium monochloracetate, from which it differed very slightly in the surface 
tension as measured against air. The inorganic salt solutions, however, are 
considerably less viscous than those of the organic salts, and hence their 
- disaggregating capacities are greater than those of the latter with the same 
surface tension. Sodium formate occupies an intermediate position. Its 
surface tension is somewhat less than that of sodium chloride, and its 
viscosity is appreciably greater ; the latter constant is, however, smaller than 
those of the other organic salts. Sodiuin benzoate solution has nearly the 
same surface tension as that of the salicylate; it disageregates less, owing to 
its considerably higher viscosity. 
In addition to the passive action in altering the physical properties of 
solutions, salts may also exert a disageregating capacity in a more active 
manner. Hardy* and Mellanbyf have shown that the salts of dyad metals 
(alkaline earths) have a greater solvent action on serum’ globulin than those 
of the monad metals: furthermore, salts of dibasic acids dissolve this 
substance more readily than those of monobasic acids. This action is 
probably due to the direct attraction of the salt molecules by the proteins, 
owing possibly to the difference of electric charge. These results have been 
corroborated. A similar action in the case of edestin is less marked.t The 
salts of the dibasic organic acids have a comparatively small solvent action 
on edestin ; it is, however, greater than that of the salts of monobasic acids 
with solutions of high surface tension and viscosities. Analogies to these 
actions have been discovered in the investigation of salt action in other 
systems about to be described. 
If the conceptions advanced above are correct they should apply also to 
systems other than those containing proteins. The experimental results 
which confirm them are given in a third communication. 
The first of the simpler systems investigated was that containing phenol in 
the presence of salt solutions. As Rothmund has shown,§ if a mixture of 
the diphasic system phenol and water be heated, the phenol phase gradually 
takes up more water, and the aqueous phase takes up more phenol, until a 
point is reached at which the two phases assume the same chemical com- 
* ‘Journ. Physiol.,’ 1905, vol. 338, p. 251. 
+ ‘Journ. Physiol.,’ 1905, vol. 33, p. 338. 
{ See Osborne and Harris, ‘ Amer. Journal of Physiology,’ 1905, vol. 14, p. 151. 
§ ‘Zeitsch. Physikal. Chem.,’ 1898, vol. 26, p. 433. 
