AbstractAn attempt is made to bring into a closer correlation the conceptions of “bound” and “intramicellar” water. For this purpose we made use of gelatine gels containing cobaltous chloride, observed the colour, typical for different amounts of adsorbed water (an indication for “free” or “bound” water) and found by means of X‐ray spectrography the magnitude of the “side chain spacing” (measure for intramicellar water) in dependance on the amount of adsorbed water. The results obtained for gels of low cobaltous chloride content are valid f