Still, other objections might be raised which could not be so easily
refuted. One, to which chemists not unreasonably attached great
importance, was this:--If a certain quantity of chloride of sodium is
dissociated into chlorine and sodium, it should be possible, by
diffusion, for example, which brings out plainly the phenomena of
dissociation in gases, to extract from the solution a part either of
the chlorine or of the sodium, while the corresponding part of the
other compound would remain. This result would be in flagrant
contradiction with the fact that, everywhere and always, a solution of
salt contains strictly the same proportions of its component elements.
M. Arrhenius answers to this that the electrical forces in ordinary
conditions prevent separation by diffusion or by any other process.
Professor Nernst goes further, and has shown that the concentration
currents which are produced when two electrodes of the same substance
are plunged into two unequally concentrated solutions may be
interpreted by the hypothesis that, in these particular conditions,
the diffusion does bring about a separation of the ions.
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