presumably, would the dissociating power of such a molecule be. The dissociation may be effected, possibly, by the ‹action of these intensified charges› upon ‹charges already existing›[108] within the molecule of the dissolved ionogen. In liquid ammonia we might well have, for instance, the action ^{+}NH_{3}-NH_{3}^{−} + HCl ⇄ ^{+}(NH_{3}-NH_{3})H + Cl^{−}, or ^{+}NH_{3}-NH_{3}^{−} + H^{+}Cl^{−} ⇄ ^{+}(NH_{3}-NH_{3})H + Cl^{−}. Now, in liquid ammonia, the salts NH_{4}Cl, NH_{4}NO_{3} [or, more probably, (NH_{3})_{‹x›}HCl, (NH_{3})_{‹x›},HNO_{3}] have the functions of the aqueous acids[109]; that is, the ‹hydrogen-ion› of the acids is found ‹combined with the solvent› ammonia. The ion ^{+}(NH_{3}-NH_{3})H, and similar ions in liquid ammonia, would correspond then to what is considered the hydrogen-ion in aqueous solutions[110] (formed according to HCl ⇄ H^{+} + Cl^{−}, as ordinarily written), and the ‹polarized charges on molecules› like ^{+}NH_{3}-NH_{3}^{−} appear thus as ‹possible active agents› in this dissociation of the hydrogen chloride molecules. [p066] Now, it is a significant fact that all the best ionizing solvents are compounds whose simple ‹molecules are unsaturated› exactly like those of ammonia; this is true for water H_{2}O, the unsaturated character of whose oxygen atom is now universally recognized. It is now a familiar fact that liquid water is not represented by the formula H_{2}O but consists of more complex molecules (H_{2}O)_{n}. According to the most recent investigations,[111] while steam is H_{2}O, or monohydrol, ice is trihydrol (H_{2}O)_{3}, and liquid water, at ordinary temperatures, a mixture consisting chiefly of dihydrol (H_{2}O)_{2}, some trihydrol, and very little monohydrol. The proportion of the last appears to increase with a rise of temperature; the proportion of trihydrol seems to increase with a fall in temperature. One can easily see how such aggregates would result from the saturation of the free charges on oxygen, by further molecules of water. One can also see that such an association of water molecules could leave a positive and a negative charge on the associated molecules, which would be ‹polarized› and more effective than the simple molecule would be. That the molecule of hydrogen cyanide contains a similarly unsaturated atom was demonstrated by Nef.[112] He proved that the behavior of hydrocyanic acid agrees with the structure expressed by the formula HN=C=, which we may well write HN=C^{±}. In sulphur dioxide, another good ionizing solvent, we have, similarly, unsaturated sulphur, the sulphur atom being here quadrivalent, whereas its maximum valence is six.