We must not forget, however, the continuity of the liquid and gaseous
states; and we may consider it in an absolute way a question devoid of
sense to ask whether in a solution the solute is in the liquid or the
gaseous state. It is in the fluid state, and perhaps in conditions
opposed to those of a body in the state of a perfect gas. It is known,
of course, that in this case the manometrical pressure must be
regarded as very great in relation to the internal pressure which, in
the characteristic equation, is added to the other. May it not seem
possible that in the solution it is, on the contrary, the internal
pressure which is dominant, the manometric pressure becoming of no
account? The coincidence of the formulas would thus be verified, for
all the characteristic equations are symmetrical with regard to these
two pressures. From this point of view the osmotic pressure would be
considered as the result of an attraction between the solvent and the
solute; and it would represent the difference between the internal
pressures of the solution and of the pure solvent.
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