CHEMICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL WORDS. 691 



such a revision was appointed, and made its final report at the 

 meeting of 1891. This report says : 



During the past four years, your committee has sought to obtain from the 

 members of this section, from leading American philologists, and from American 

 chemists in general, an exhaustive and thoroughly representative expression of 

 opinion on the questions coming within the scope of its commission, which has 

 been essentially the attainment of uniformity in the orthography and pronun- 

 ciation of the terms used in our science. 



Three preliminary reports were distributed to American chemists in the years 

 1889, 1890, and 1891, inviting extended criticism and suggestion. The substance 

 of the replies to these was carefully digested and submitted to the Chemical Sec- 

 tion each year for detailed discussion and decision. The present and final report 

 of your committee embodies the results of these four years of correspondence and 

 discussion, as completed by the sectional action at the present meeting of the 

 Association. It is presented in the hope that all chemists, especially those engaged 

 in teaching, will cordially unite in the effort to bring about the desired uniformity 

 in usage. 



The reasons for the adoption of a few more radical changes in our nomenclature 

 are to be found in the report for 1890. Those specially interested in the subject 

 who have not attended the recent sessions of the Association may freely correspond 

 with individual members of the committee, who will gladly furnish more detailed 

 explanation of the principles involved. 



The following summary of rules is not to be regarded as final. Your committee 

 recognize the fact that, after a fair trial for a decade or even less, certain modifica- 

 tions will in all probability be generally regarded as desirable. 



In conclusion, the committee express their sincere thanks to their many col- 

 leagues throughout the land, who have so promptly and fully responded to the 

 successive requests for data, suggestions, and opinions. 



(Signed) T. H. Noeton, 



Edwakd Hart, 

 H. Careington Bolton, 

 James Lewis Howe. 



Among the decisions of the committee (all being accepted by 

 the Chemical Section) is to sound the i short in the names of the 

 halogens, and the spelling is changed by dropping the final e, so 

 as better to indicate this pronunciation : thus, chlorin, bromin, etc. 

 The " pentalemma " of quinine is conquered by adopting a sixth 

 pronunciation Tcwi'nin and the final e is dropped, making the 

 spelling quinin. Similar treatment is accorded to anilin, mor- 

 phin, glycerin, cocain, etc. The similarity between -ide and -tie 

 is removed by changing the former to -id, giving chlorid, bromid, 

 oxid, etc. 



Polysyllables in the metric system are regarded as compound 

 words, each part with its own accent ; thus, not centi' meter, but 

 cen'time"ter. The spellings aluminum and asbestos displace 

 aluminium and asbestus ; gramme is preferred to gram (probably 

 to avoid confusion with grain in indistinct handwriting) ; al'kaline 

 retains the long i and its final e ; dl'loy, both as noun and as verb, 



