Cellular Structure of Emulsions

Abstract

THE same arrangement that is shown by Fig. 2, in NATURE of May 7 (p. 240), may be seen in an emulsion of Oriental finely powdered coffee suspended in milk and water. I have supposed that it is connected with a strange phenomenon which I reported in NATURE about forty years ago. Sooty rain-water, after standing for some hours, will develoo clear planes of water, as much as 10 cm. long and only 1 or 2 mm. wide. These planes are most readily seen by candle light when vertical, but may develop at any inclination, and change inclination. Such a straight segregation of clean water shows that no self-attraction of the suspended solids can be the cause. In a recent point of view it looks like a liquid crystal arrangement of water expelling the powder as foreign matter, especially when we remember the habit of ice crystals in very thin plates. The question then arises, Are all these emulsion figures due to the clear liquid segregating and expelling the suspended matter?