244 Proceedings of Boyal Society of Edinburgh [sess, 
directly and not by difference as in the tables, the numbers for the 
absorbed iodine become more nearly constant in the first series, and 
diminish somewhat more rapidly in the others. On the whole, it 
may be said that for given amounts of iodine and magnesia, the 
effect of varying quantities of water on the absorption is very slight. 
If the quantity of water and of magnesia is kept constant, and the 
iodine is varied, there is a falling-off in the amount absorbed as the 
total quantity of iodine diminishes. This is apparent when we 
compare corresponding volumes in the different sets, and confirms 
the results given on the preceding page. An inspection of the 
numbers for all the series shows that there is no definite relation- 
ship between the final concentration of the iodine solution and the 
concentration of iodine in the magnesia. For example, in the last 
experiment of the first series, the final concentration of the aqueous 
solution is 12, and the amount of absorbed iodine 3*04 ; whilst in 
the first experiment of the next series, the much greater final con- 
centration 35 corresponds to a smaller absorption, viz., 2’60. This 
want of correspondence between the concentrations of the iodine 
in the water and in the magnesia renders the results obtained in 
aqueous solutions useless for determining the nature of the “hypo- 
iodite.” It is, however, highly probable, even from a consideration 
of them alone, that the “ hypoiodite ” is not a real chemical com- 
pound partially decomposable by water into iodine and magnesia. 
If it were so, we should expect that within certain limits the con- 
centration of iodine in the water would remain the same, while the 
concentration in the magnesia varied (compare Walker and Apple- 
yard, Jour. Chem. Soc., 1896, 69, 1341). The disturbing cause in 
these experiments is no doubt the chemical action which occurs to 
so great an extent simultaneously with the absorption ; and in 
order to eliminate this source of error we made a number of experi- 
ments with iodine in chloroform solution, the magnesia employed 
being the ignited oxide. Here there is no water, and the forma- 
tion of iodide and iodate does not take place. 
The results that we obtained at first were very singular, 
when the substances employed were dried with ordinary precau- 
tions. The magnesia was weighed off and shaken up in stoppered 
cylinders with a chloroform solution of iodine, by means of a 
mechanical arrangement driven by a small turbine. The absorption 
