Excerpt from Principles of Inorganic Chemistry The phase rule of Willard Gibbs has also played its part in the recent developments in inorganic chemistry. It has laid special stress upon the conditions of equilibrium between the different phases of the same and different substances, and has predicted the existence of unknown substances, many of which have recently been found. The phase rule is a beautiful, short-hand expression of great masses of facts, and it gives us a comprehensive grasp of these facts which without it would be impossible. The application of Faraday' 3 law as the basis of chemical valence is not a new conception, but the importance of this application has only recently become apparent. The importance of ions, which are charged atoms or groups of atoms, and the study of electrochemical phenomena in general have made prominent the fact that the law of Faraday is a fundamental law of chemistry as well as of physical chemistry. If we do not recognize this relation, the term chemical valence is without exact significance and meaning; when based upon the law of Faraday - a law to which thus far no exception is known - valence has an exact physical basis, and this is an impor tant step for the development of chemistry. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.