Dr. Hare on the Chemical Nomenclature of Berzelius. 249 
the other, and making all harmonize together, of regulating their 
details and embracing their extent, of giving instructions to the 
head of every party whether in the field, or the observatory, or 
on the water, and receiving in return his reports and communica- 
tions, is onerous and engrossing in the extreme. This is attended 
to by the present superintendent personally, while all the angles 
measured, astronomical, magnetic, and other observations taken, 
and calculations made at the stations of the first order, are exe- 
cuted by himself, or under his immediate control. 
There is one point of the highest import to the prosperity of 
the work, which must not be passed over. The coast survey, 
heretofore endangered by the absence of a controlling public 
opinion, now enjoys its efficient support, both in Congress and in 
the country generally. It enjoys, moreover, internal peace and 
harmony, a condition essential to the prosecution of scientific 
labors, and honorable to all. 
It only remains to add, that the matters here treated being con- 
sidered familiar to the general readers of this Journal, it has not 
been thought necessary to consume space by strict references to 
the authorities cited. 
Arr. Il.—A Leiter to Berzelius on Chemical Nomenclature ; 
by Roserr Hare, M. D., Professor of Chemistry in the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania. 
Philadelphia, May, 1845. 
Esteemed Sir,—I am extremely grateful to you for the good 
will which has induced you to occupy so much of your val- 
uable time and attention in answering my letters, and regret 
that I have not succeeded in so expressing myself, whether in 
French or English, as to make you comprehend my opinions. I 
shall begin to think that in theoretic elucidation, as well as in 
physical illumination, it may be more difficult to make luminous 
impressions on bodies, in proportion as they are themselves pre- 
eminently the sources of light. 
In your letter of the 25th of February, 1844, you describe 
my opinion of a salt in the following words: “ Vous fondez 
Videe d’un sel uniquement sur la composition sans egard aux 
proprietes, vous ne considerez, comme un sel que ce qui est com- 
