Trans. N. V. Ac. Scz. 102 Mar. 12. 



work that the Orsat does, and is not so scientifically accurate as 

 the Doyer, it must be regarded as a very great advance in laboratory 

 work, both on account of its simplicity and its cheapness. 



Mr. Elliott stated his preference for vaseline for the lubrication 

 of the joints of the apparatus. In regard to the absorption of car- 

 bonic oxide, he had compared analyses with those by the Bunsen 

 method, and, in one instance, had obtained 27 per cent., by his 

 apparatus, against 26.7 per cent., by that of Bunsen. He did not 

 claim any greater accuracy for his apparatus, beyond the determina- 

 tion of constituents which amounted to tenths of a per cent. He 

 had never observed any changes of volume, due to tempera- 

 ture, greater than a few tenths of a cubic centimeter in 15 or 20 

 minutes, while he and other persons were standing near the ap- 

 paratus. 



March 12, 1883. 

 Section of Chemistry. 



The President, Dr. J. S. Newberry, in the Chair. 

 Thirty-one persons present. 



Prof. H. Carrington Bolton, of Trinity College, Hartford, 

 Conn., read the second part of his paper 



ON the history of chemical notation. 



(Abstract). 



He had discussed on a previous occasion (December nth) the early 

 association of metals and planets, and the supposed origin of the signs 

 used for both ; he now took up the subject of alchemical symbolism, 

 and traced also the later developments in chemical notation from the 

 days of Geoffroy to Berzelius. 



The indefatigable alchemists discovered new chemical substances 

 more rapidly than they became acquainted with their proper relation to 

 known bodies and to each other, so that the names assigned to them 

 were arbitrarily chosen and frequently misleadmg. The love of the 

 mystical also influenced alchemical terminology, very greatly obscuring 

 it ; in forming their vocabulary, the alchemists used the names of ani- 

 mals, plants, and of organic substances, as well as letters, numbers, 

 signs of the zodiac, and an innumerable variety of arbitrary and con- 

 ventional characters. To conceal their knowledge from the uninitiated. 



