CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 169 



ON THE CHEMICAL NOMENCLATURE OF ORGANIC COMPOUNDS. 



A PAPER with the above title was presented at the meeting of the 

 British Association, 1851, by Dr. Daubeny. The object of this 

 paper was to point out certain inconsistencies and anomalies in 

 the received method of classifying and naming organic compounds, and 

 thus, if Dossible, to induce chemists to agree on a set of rules, by ad- 

 hering to which the compositions and relations of a body miglit be 

 inferred from the termination of the word designating it. The profes- 

 sor first alluded to the nomenclature proposed by Gmelin, which im- 

 posed new names upon all known elements, and thus was at least as 

 difficult as the acquisition of an entirely new language. Not conceiv- 

 ing that so intricate a system would ever come into vogue, he proceeded 

 to point out the meaning belonging to the several terminations attached 

 by eminent chemists to the names of bodies of their own discovery, as 

 indicative of the class to which they belonged, and likewise their method 

 of denoting the composition of a body by constructing for it a name made 

 up of those expressive of its several ingredients. In order to introduce 

 somewhat more of precision into this method of nomenclature, and 

 also to render it, in some instances, more convenient and more appli- 

 cable to daily use, the professor submitted to the Section the following 

 suggestions : 1. That the term hydrocarbon, when used to designate 

 a class, should be confined to the compound radicals ; the essential oils 

 being regarded either in the light of hydrurets, from their containing 

 an atom of hydrogen in a different state of combination from the rest, 

 or of aldehydes, from their tendency to form acids by the addition of 

 two atoms of oxygen. 2. That the term ether, as designating a class, 

 should be restricted to the oxides of the respective compound radicals ; 

 and that the " compound ethers " should be named on the same prin- 

 ciple that salts are, by terms expressive of their respective acids and 

 bases. 3. That the term celone should be retained for bodies produced 

 from acids by the abstraction of a single atom of carbonic acid ; 4. 

 and that of glyceride for fixed oils. 5. That the termination yle for 

 Liebig's compound radicals, and ene or en for carbohydrogens with equal 

 atoms of the two elements, be retained. 6. That to the vegetable 

 alkalies produced by natural, processes, the termination ine should be 

 confined ; and to those artificially produced by substitution of hydro- 

 carbons for the hydrogen atoms of ammonia that of amine. 7. That 

 the names proposed by Hoffman for the alkaloids of his own discovery 

 should be abbreviated by introducing only the first syllable of the name 

 expressive of each of the hydrocarbons present, by which expedient the 

 length of the word so compounded need rarely exceed six syllables. 

 8. That the termination amide should be retained merely for bodies 

 formed by the replacement of the hydrogen atoms wlien they are not 

 alkalian ; and that the terms imide and nitrile should be no longer em- 

 ployed. 9. That the termination am, occasionally used for ammonia 

 compounds, be discarded. 10. That the termination al, for aldehyde 

 compounds, should be henceforward employed with more precision. 

 11. That the termination ethane should be used for those ether com- 

 pounds only into which an acid does not enter. 12. That the termi- 



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