ACTION UPON METALS OF SOLUTIONS OF HYDRO¬ 
CHLORIC ACID IN VARIOUS SOLVENTS . 1 
BY HARRISON EASTMAN PATTEN. 
INTRODUCTION. 
There is an erroneously prevailing idea that chemical action 
cannot take place unless the substances which are to react consti¬ 
tute a system capable of conducting the electric current. Lit¬ 
tle is said as to the limits, either of the E. 1\L F. to be employed 
to pass this current, or of the quantity of current which this 
E. M. F. must produce in order that the system may be in a 
proper condition to undergo chemical action. The function of 
temperature in facilitating chemical action is left somewhat 
vague, too; especially as to the range of temperature within 
which substances are or are not “ionized.” Some go so far as 
to assert that no chemical action can take place without “ioniza¬ 
tion,” meaning by the term “ion,” a small body, an element or a 
complex, which bears a charge of electricity. On this basis it 
would follow that chemical action must take place whenever a 
system is capable of conducting electricity, whether a current 
be actually passing through the system or not. Other chemists 
use the term “ion” in the sense that it is that part of a chemical 
compound which retains its identity while undergoing chemical 
change. Thus, ferrous iron is not to be called a radicle, yet to 
say that iron is reacting does not express the whole truth. The 
word “ion,” used in this sense, may be helpful, but is sure to 
be confused with the conception of free charged ions, as put 
forth by Arrhenius, unless careful discrimination be made. 
1 Read before the Academy December 26, 1902; also read before the 
Washington meeting of the American Chemical Society, December 30, 
1902. 
