Melting and Crystal Structure — Some Current Problems

The “classical” definition of liquid and solid phases acording to mechanical criteria is unsatisfactory. It is now know that “premelting” effects occur in crystals, and in many liquids the formation of clusters is observed near the melting point, with structures which can correspond to the short‐range order of the crystals from which the melt is derived.–In particular, the implications of the theories of Lennard‐Jones and Devonshire and of Mizushima and Ookawa are discussed.