The temperature scanning methods described here are widely applicable. They can be used in kinetic investigations on many other liquid-phase reactions with similar chemical kinetics : for example, the hydrolysis reactions of alkyl halides and esters, including both acid- and base-catalyzed reactions. Ln more complicated cases the temperature scanning methods require more sophisticated data handling procedures but they continue to yield the correct overall (net) rates of reaction. We leave such cases for future consideration and confine ourselves to this simple system where diffusion and heat transfer rates are clearly unimportant.