Abstract
REGARDING the origin of the word solute1, the following may be added to the references concerning the coining of the word by Prof. Donnan and by the late Prof. N. Story-Maskelyne. In a paper presented to the American Academy on May 9, 1894 (cf. Proc. Amer. Acad., 30, 325; 1895; but perhaps published in a separate part of this volume during 1894), W. D Bancroft wrote: ” There seems to me a need for a word denoting the dissolved substance. In future I shall use the word solute, meaning the substance dissolved in the solvent”. It appears, therefore, that the use of this handy word was proposed independently and almost simultaneously by several chemists so early as 1894. Prof. Bancroft seems to have been the first to introduce the word in a scientific communication, but Prof. Donnan's suggestion was possibly the earliest to appear in print.
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NATURE, 137, 698 (April 25); 782 (May 2, 1936).
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WALKER, O. Origin of the Term Solute. Nature 137, 831 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137831a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137831a0
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