It is suggested that a partial explanation of the reduction of
potassium permanganate by manganese oxide may be found in the
instability of the latter; in other words that the reduction may
consist in alternate reduction and reoxidation processes. But when the
rapidity of the reduction is taken into account, it seems probable that
a reaction analogous to that between permanganic acid and hydrogen
superoxide must also take place.
Arthur John Hopkins was born September 20, 1864 in Bridgewater,
Massachusetts. Receiving his preparation for college in the public
schools of that town, he entered Amherst College in 1881 and graduated
with the degree of A. B. in 1885. The five years following were spent
in teaching in the States of Massachusetts and New York. He entered the
Johns Hopkins University in 1890, was assistant in the quantitative
laboratory of that university during the academic year of 1891-92, and
the following year was appointed Fellow in Chemistry.