I am also of opinion that he is entitled to
great credit and respect for the prominent part he has taken in the
development of the kinetic theory, and further think that it was for
the chemists to produce the fact of the variability of the specific
gravities, which they would probably not have failed to do but for the
prevalence of Avogadro's hypothesis, which is virtually the assertion of
the constancy of the specific gravities.
3. The unit of numbers being represented by Cl=35.5, it is likewise
represented by H=1, and as the product of the union of the two elements
is HCl, 36.5 = two vols., combination takes place by addition and not by
substitution; consequently are
4. The elementary molecules not compounds of atoms? And the distinction
between atoms and molecules is an artificial one, not justified by the
natural facts.
5. Is the molecular weight not in every instance = two volumes?
These conclusions overthrow all the fundamental assumptions on which the
hypothesis rests, and leave it, in the full meaning of the term, without
support. Though Mr. Greene states that my arguments are based upon
entirely erroneous premises, he has not even attempted to invalidate a
single one of my premises.
As he considers the non-condensation to be natural in the case of
cyanogen and chlorine, the condensation of two vols. of HCl + two vols.
of H_3N to two vols. of NH_4Cl ought to appear to him unnatural.
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