Systems of Four Immiscible Liquid Layers

Abstract

IN a recent letter Prof. J. R. Partington¹ states that the system of four immiscible liquid layers described by me² does not appear to be stable, inasmuch as a specimen, that originally separated into the four layers, now forms two only. A little more than two years ago I prepared a sealed tube containing this system, plus mercury. It has been shaken repeatedly, but still separates into five layers. Moreover, there has been no noticeable tendency for any one of the layers to decrease in volume, much less to disappear. A recent photograph of this tube is reproduced as Fig. 1. A second specimen, made about the same time, behaved in precisely the same way.