Note 23 bis — Chapter X · SODIUM CHLORIDE—BERTHOLLET'S LAWS—HYDROCHLORIC ACID

There is no doubt, however, but that chloride of sodium is also decomposed in its aqueous solutions with the separation of sodium, and that it does not simply enter into double decomposition with the water (NaCl + H2O = NaHO + HCl). This is seen from the fact that when a saturated solution of NaCl is rapidly decomposed by an electric current, a large amount of chlorine appears at the anode and a sodium amalgam forms at the mercury cathode, which acts but slowly upon the strong solution of salt. Castner's process for the electrolysis of brine into chlorine and caustic soda is an application of this method which has been already worked in England on an industrial scale.