Since the pioneer work of Prof. R. H. Fowler(1) on the statistical foundations of the Debye-Hückel theory of strong electrolytes (2), several attempts have been made to obtain as much information as possible on the question of the equation of state of electrolytes from merely thermodynamical and dimensional considerations.

The idea of “free” electrons is purely classical, but it is convenient to introduce it also in the quantum theory of metals. In order to calculate the number of free electrons NF from a quantum mechanical model it is necessary to give an appropriate definition.

The commonest form of Langmuir's adsorption isotherm is

where θ is the fraction of the surface of the solid covered by adsorbed molecules, p the gas pressure in equilibrium with the adsorbed layer and A = A (T) a function of the temperature alone. This formula is usually derived by a kinetic argument which balances the rates of deposition and re-evaporation. It is perhaps not without interest to show that formula (1) and similar formulae can be obtained directly by the usual statistical methods which evaluate all the properties of the equilibrium state of any assembly. The ordinary derivation is apt to obscure the essentially thermodynamic character of (1) and to lead one to think that its form depends on the precise mechanisms of deposition and re-evaporation, whereas in fact it depends only on the whole set of states, adsorbed and free, accessible to the molecules in question. By suitable use of the usual technique for handling assemblies obeying the Fermi-Dirac statistics the saturation effect can be naturally incorporated in the theory ab initio.

In the early editions of the Geometry of Three Dimensions Salmon had stated that the equations of any three quadric surfaces could be simultaneously reduced to the sums of five squares. Such a reduction is not possible in general, but can be performed if and only if a certain combinant Λ, of the net of quadrics, vanishes. Algebraically the theory of such a net of quadrics is equivalent, as Hesse(2) showed, to that of a plane quartic curve: and the condition for the equation a quartic to be expressible to the sum of five fourth powers is equivalent to the condition Λ = 0(1). While Clebsch(3) was the first to establish this condition, Lüroth(4) gave it more explicit form by studying the quartic curve

which satisfies the condition. Frahm(5) seems to have been the first to prove the impossibility of the above reduction of three general quadric surfaces, by remarking that the plane quartic curve obtained in Hesse's way from the locus of the vertices of cones of the net of quadrics would be a Lüroth quartic. Frahm further remarked that the three quadrics, so conditioned, could be regarded as the polar quadrics belonging to a cubic surface in ∞2 ways; but that for three general quadrics no such cubic surface exists. An explicit algebraical account of these properties was given by E. Toeplitz(6), who incidentally noticed that certain linear complexes associated with three general quadrics became special linear complexes when Λ = 0. This polar property of three quadrics in [3] was generalized to n dimensions by Anderson (7).

From experimental results on the shape of the upper portion of the continuous β ray spectra of thorium C and thorium C″ the distribution of energy is deduced. This distribution is compared with Fermi's theory wherein the shape of the curve depends on the mass of the neutrino. The comparison supports Fermi's conclusion that the mass of the neutrino is zero or certainly not more than a very small fraction of the electronic mass.

The molecular-orbital method has been applied to a study of in its ground state and excited levels, and the relative importance of the perturbation and variational methods has been considered in some detail, as well as the effect of certain integrals which, in discussions of molecular structure, have often been neglected. It appears that the ion should exist in stable equilateral form with a nuclear distance about 0·85 Å., and that all excited levels are unstable.

Reasons are given for supposing that the molecule H3 is linear and not triangular.

A direct method of obtaining the limitations of crystal symmetry on physical phenomena is described and discussed in greater detail for the case of diamagnetic magnetostriction. Formulae are obtained for the variation of the longitudinal and transverse effects with crystal orientation in the case of bismuth.

Attention has recently been directed to the measurement of the relative amplitudes of wireless echoes from the ionosphere, and some interesting methods of automatic registration have been devised (1, 2). For vertical incidence, and for wave-lengths shorter than 200 metres, visual observation shows that a single echo, even when separated from its accompanying oppositely polarized magneto-ionic component, shows considerable rapid fading (3). This fading is evident on the records published by White (1), and it is clear from these that it is not easy to determine the relative amplitudes of two echoes. This paper is an account of an apparatus which automatically integrates the amplitude of an echo over a time long compared with the period of the fading, and at the end of the period registers the integrated value on a recording galvanometer. The process is then repeated so that the final galvanometer trace represents the average value of the intensity throughout successive equal periods of time. It is further described how by using a double thread recording galvanometer, it is possible to record the averaged amplitudes of two different echoes (e.g. ordinary and extraordinary, or E and F) during alternate integrating periods.

Some theoretical results on the effect of non-normality on the t test of significance, though it is stressed that they are incomplete and not perhaps of much quantitative value, nevertheless tend to agree with the result of sampling investigations in showing that for moderate departures from normality this test may still be used with confidence, particularly for testing differences in means of equal numbers of observations.

Recent discoveries have shown that two light quanta with total energy not less than 2mc2 can create a pair of electrons (inverse process to the ordinary annihilation). Hence it follows that ordinary black-body radiation no longer represents an equilibrium state. In thermodynamic equilibrium a certain number of electron pairs must be present, the number of which will depend upon the temperature. It can be calculated as follows.

Cayley's remark that the formula by which the genus of a surface, according to Clebsch's definition, may presumably be computed leads to a negative number in the case of a cone, or a developable surface, or a ruled surface in general, has great importance in the history of the theory. But it would appear, from various indications, that, for a developable surface at least, it is more often quoted than read. I have thought therefore that the following simplifying remarks may have a use. Cayley uses formulae, due to Salmon and Cremona, without reference to the memoir where these are given in detail. Of two of these, for the number of tangents of a curve which meet it again, and for the number of triple points of the nodal curve, proofs by the theory of correspondence are extant; for the present purpose it is only necessary to have the sum of these two numbers. I do not know whether it has been remarked that there exists a remarkable formula for this sum, very similar to, and including the ordinary formula for the number of triple points of a general ruled surface (and like this probably capable of a direct proof by the theory of correspondence). For the genus of the nodal curve, deduced by Cayley from the Salmon-Cremona formulae, a proof by the theory of correspondence (in the general case, sufficient for the purpose in hand, in which i = τ = δ = δ′ = 0) is added here, which seems to have a certain interest.

Recently Kohler, on the basis of some experiments by Verleger, has questioned the validity of the usual assumption that the linear Hall effect is entirely perpendicular to the current. The available experimental data are however contradictory, so a simple magneto-resistance experiment with a bismuth crystal was made, which suggested that the usual assumption was, after all, valid. The disymmetry of the Hall effect is discussed, and some of Kohler's results are generalized.

It is a problem of considerable interest in the theory of surfaces to determine the irregular non-singular surface of minimum order, not referable to a scroll; in previous investigations the author has discussed the regularity or referability of surfaces in higher space, reaching the conclusion that all non-singular surfaces of order n ≤ 10 in S4 are regular or referable, with the possible exception of the surface of order n = 10 and sectional genus π = 6, which may be elliptic (pg = 0, pa = −1) or hyperelliptic (pg = 1, pa = −1). In their memoir on hyperelliptic surfaces, Enriques and Severi have obtained for the irregular hyperelliptic surface of general moduli a model 6F10 of minimum order, situated in S4, with the characters n = 10, π = 6. Using transcendental methods, Comessatti has constructed a class of irregular hyperelliptic surfaces the properties of which he has examined in detail; this class includes a member 6Π10 which is a special case of 6F10; and since Comessatti has shown that Π10 is without singularities, so also is F10, whence it follows that F10 is a solution of the proposed problem.

Let p (x) be an essentially positive function defined in the interval 0 ≤ x ≤ π. We consider the non-linear partial differential equation

for the boundary conditions u (x, t) = 0,

for x = 0 and x = π,

1. In some recent papers I have developed the theory of what I have called harmonic integrals associated with an algebraic variety. My object has been to provide an apparatus with which to investigate the properties of the classical integrals

of total differentials which are finite everywhere on an algebraic variety Vm of m dimensions

These integrals are referred to in what follows as “Abelian integrals”, as it is desirable to have a single name to denote all integrals of this type. The usual qualification “of the first kind” is omitted, and is always to be understood. In the present paper it is shown how the theory of harmonic integrals can be applied to deduce certain results concerning Abelian integrals, and a number of interesting problems are suggested by these results.

Experiments are described for measuring the lateral deviation of wireless waves after reflection from the E and F regions of the ionosphere. It was found that the greatest lateral deviation observed, 20° or more, was that due to the e region, and the least, about 0·5°, was due to the normal E region in the case of a distant transmitter.

The time variation of amplitude of a reflected wave was found to be consistent with a random scattering at the ionosphere.

In the theoretical discussion it is shown that changing horizontal irregularities, ion clouds, are a very important cause of fading. Values are calculated for the average fading periods which would result from the horizontal winds in the neighbourhood of the E region known to exist from other evidence. These calculated periods agree with the observed and it is inferred that horizontal winds are a very important cause of fading.

Bell and Wolfenden have published a theory of diplogen concentration by electrolysis, which, to a considerable extent, explained the empirical result, that the efficiency of diplogen separation is constant. This theory depends on the assumption that a quantity, γ, introduced by Gurney is constant. In a later paper Bell writes that this assumption would “probably not be justified in a strict examination of the problem”, but he gives no quantitative estimate.

1. A “Fourier kernel” means here a function K(x) which gives rise to a formula

of the Fourier type. Thus

are Fourier kernels. If K(x) is a Fourier kernel, λ is real, and a positive, then

are Fourier kernels.

In the first section of this paper we illustrate the use that can be made of higher space in dealing with the problem of resolving a given Cremona transformation into the product of simpler Cremona transformations. In the second section we restrict ourselves to a particular large but finite class of Cremona transformations of [3], those of genus one, and show that these can all be built up from the four following simple types:

(1) The bilinear transformation T3,3, determined by three equations bilinear in the coordinates of the two corresponding spaces; in the most general case of this both the direct and the reverse homaloidal systems consist of cubic surfaces passing through a non-degenerate sextic of genus three;

(2) Three transformations Tn, n (n = 2, 3, 4) in which the homaloidal surfaces may in each case be obtained by taking in [4] a primal V of order n which has two (n− l)ple points, and projecting on to a given [3] from one of these points the sections of V by primes through the other; for n = 2 we have the familiar quadroquadric transformation determined by quadrics through a conic and a point.