JOURNAL 



OP 



THE ROYAL INSTITUTION 



GREAT BRITAIN. 



ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF NOTATION IN CHEMISTRY. 



By the Rev. W. WHEWELL, 

 Professor of Mineralogy in the University of Cambridge. 



greater part of English chemists appear to have been 

 hitherto averse from the practice of using a technical and 

 mathematical notation to express the chemical composition of 

 bodies ; while in France, Germany, and Sweden, such a nota- 

 tion is and has been for some time commonly employed. The 

 disinclination of our countrymen to adopt this invention seems 

 to arise from a belief that such an instrument is unnecessary, 

 and from a perception of several anomalies and inconveniences 

 in the system followed by foreigners. English chemists must 

 judge for themselves whether they feel the want of such a con- 

 trivance ; but I have no hesitation in saying, that in mine- 

 ralogy it is utterly impossible to express clearly, or to reason 

 upon, the chemical constitution of our substances, without the 

 employment of some notation or other. Every one who makes 

 the trial will find that, without a notation, his attempts to 

 compare the composition of different minerals will be con- 

 fused and fruitless, and that, by employing symbols, his rea- 

 sonings may easily be made brief, clear, and systematic. 



I have, therefore, endeavoured to remove the gross anoma- 

 lies and defects with which the foreign notation is disfigured, 

 and to reduce it, with as little change as possible, to mathema- 

 tical symmetry and consistency. If this can be done, as I 

 think it can, with no loss of simplicity and facility, I should 



You I. MAY, 1831. 2 G 



