Note 10 — Chapter VII · MOLECULES AND ATOMS. THE LAWS OF GAY-LUSSAC AND AVOGADRO-GERHARDT

This opinion which I have always held (since the first editions of this work), as to the primary origin of hydrogen peroxide and of the formation of water by means of its decomposition, has in latter days become more generally accepted, thanks more especially to the work of Traube. Probably it explains most simply the necessity for the presence of traces of water in many reactions, as, for instance, in the explosion of carbonic oxide with oxygen, and perhaps the theory of the explosion of detonating gas itself and of the combustion of hydrogen will gain in clearness and truth if we take into consideration the preliminary formation of hydrogen peroxide and its decomposition. We may here point out the fact that Ettingen (at Dorpat, 1888) observed the existence of currents and waves in the explosion of detonating gas by taking photographs, which showed the periods of combustion and the waves of explosion, which should be taken into consideration in the theory of this subject. As the formation of H2O2 from O2 and H2 corresponds with a less amount of heat than the formation of water from H2 and O, it may be that the temperature of the flame of detonating gas depends on the pre-formation of hydrogen peroxide.