In his early years, Gladstone conducted studies of phosphamide and similar compounds, suggested by Liebig and revised ten years later; an inquiry into the composition of nitrogen iodide (1852). His more important work was published in the "Philosophical Transactions" in 1855, on "Circumstances modifying the Action of chemical Affinity". Here, the author examined the question, arising out of the researches of Bunsen and Debus, whether when two substances act on each other an increase in the quantity of one of them leads to a corresponding increase in the amount of chemical change observed, and whether such change occurs continuously or discretely, in atomic proportions.