1883. 105 Tra7is. N. Y. Ac. Set. 



By far the larger number of signs fall under Group IV, Arbitrary, but 

 it is highly probable that many in this class are in reaUty distortions of 

 signs belonging to one of the other groups. 



The first intelligent use of these signs seems to have been made by 

 the distinguished French chemist, Geoffrey, in 1718. He was the 

 first to prepare tables showing the relative chemical affinity of sub- 

 stances ; and he arranged the existing signs in columns to indicate 

 their mutual relations. He added little to the notation, but discovered 

 a new power in the symbols. The next step in advance was made 

 by Torbern Bergman, who proposed to denote analogous bodies by 

 similar signs having minor distinctions. His fundamental or basic 

 characters were a triangle, a circle, a crown and a cross, and these 

 he modified and combined in various ways to represent a great num- 

 ber of substances. Bergmann, however, carried out his excellent prop- 

 osition very imperfectly. In Bergmann's Dissertation on Elective 

 Affinities, we find the earliest style of chemical equations. 



The speaker then referred to Lavoisier's scheme of notation, to 

 the elaborate plan of Hassenfratz and Adet, and to the improvements 

 introduced by Dalton, who revived the atomic philosophy and clothed 

 it with new significance. None of these schemes were, however, 

 destined to survive. 



In 1814, the eminent Swedish chemist, Berzelius, published a 

 memoir on nitrous acid, in which he discusses the different degrees 

 of oxidation which nitrogen undergoes ; in a modest foot note, he 

 incidentally mentions that he frequently employs, in private memoranda, 

 a convenient system of abbreviations for representing chemical 

 bodies. This was the germ of the present rational system of notation, 

 which has doiie so much to advance chemical science and to lighten 

 the labors of students of every nationality. The Berzelian notation 

 was not the result of any premeditated plan, carefully elaborated and 

 presented to a Scientific Academy for their endorsement, but a simple 

 device of a master mind, seeking to embody theoretical views in a 

 practical manner. Twelve years later, Berzelius published a brief 

 paper "On a method of expressing in formulae the Composition of 

 Bodies, as respects both their elements and the number of their atoms." 



In this he describes the system, which, with slight modifications, 

 now prevails wherever chemical science is known. 



He proposes to denote each element by the initial letter or letters 

 of its Latin name, and that such symbol shall represent the relative 

 weight of one atom of the body designated. Berzelius remarks in this 

 connection that the French mineralogist, Beudant, had the national 

 vanity to employ the initial letters of French names, and suggests 

 the desirability of employing Latin names, inconsequence of the obvious 



