[ ss I 



..rant /ame/l^e to a blade, and /eknite from fonae fiditious re- 

 femblance to the moon. The Etimology of thefe names was how- 

 ever foon forgotten or not attended to, and' confequently fucli 

 of them as confifte4 of only one word, not evidently denoting 

 fome falfe relation, might without inconvenience be admitted ; 

 but in procefs of time deforiptions were admitted inftead of names, 

 and thefe often falfe or abfurd, asfalmirabile, fal /ecretum, arcanum 

 dupltcatum, arcanum corraUinum, ^c The inconvenience and 

 evident impropriety of many of thefe defignations at laft attradled 

 the attention of thofe eminent philofophic chemifts, Bergman and 

 Morveau. Morveau fo early as the year 1782 publifhed an ex- 

 cellent Memoir on this fubjedl in Rozier's Journal, and his fen- 

 timents met with the entire approbation of Bergman. The new 

 denominations he fought to introduce foon however gave way 

 to the ftiU more exquifitely devifed fyflematic appellations grounded 

 on the difcoveries of Lavoifier, and the total elimination of the 

 phlogiftic element formerly admitted. Thefe, in the formation 

 of which Morveau alfo, in concurrence with a few of the moft 

 eminent Parifian chymifts, bore a confiderable part, were fince 

 admitted and recognized by moft European chymifts, and particu- 

 larly in England. The exceptions that appeared to me reafon- 

 able to the general rules laid down by this highly refpedable 

 affociation, or to fome of the terms they introduced, I thought 

 of too little confequence to mention, knowing that the few 

 antient denominations I retained, and the ftiU fewer new ones I 



introduced, 



