184 Mr. R. Warrington on a System of Chemical Symbolsy 



the metals (p. HO) " by repeating the second letter of the sym- 

 bol for each additional atom of oxygen, and attaching s (semis- 

 sis) for tlie half atom : thus, Mn, Mns, Mnn, are the Protox- 

 ide, Deutoxide, and' Peroxide of Manganese." Again, in object- 

 ing to the use of dots placed over the symbolic letters for the 

 indication of the number of proportions of oxygen in any com- 

 pound, it is admitted (p. 149) "that the notation is compact and 

 simple," but " that it is not consistent with algebraic rule, as far 

 as the oxygen is concerned ;" and the writer argues, "that to be 

 explicitly expressed, it should be done in the manner previously 

 recommended, as fe + 20, fe + 30. Protoxide and Peroxide of 

 Iron," according to Berzelius's view of those combinations. 

 Now, on referring back to the preceding page, we find Pro- 

 fessor Whewell urging the utility of representing the Acids 

 commonly occurring in minerals, by an accent or dash placed 

 over the bases of the acid : thus, for instance, S Sulphur, S' 

 Sulphuric Acid; C Carbon, C Carbonic Acid; Ar Arsenic, 

 Ar' Arsenic Acid; Cr Chromium, Cr' Chromic Acid; CI 

 Chlorine, CI' Muriatic Acid; I Iodine, I' Hydriodic Acid. And 

 at the concluding part of the paper this system is extended 

 to other combinations of oxygen with the same bases, the 

 accent being varied: as S' Sulphurous Acid, C CarbonicOxide, 

 Ar' Arsenious Acid. But in this arrangement no notice ap- 

 pears to have been taken of acids the basis of which com- 

 bines with both oxygen and hydrogen, as is the case with 

 chlorine, iodine, bromine, fluorine, sulphur,&c. The chloric 

 acid must be indicated in the same way as the muriatic, the 

 iodic as the hydriodic, sulphuretted hydrogen in combina- 

 tion as an acid the same as sulphuric acid, and so of tlie rest. 

 Then we have also the perchloric acid, for which it would be 

 necessary to form some other accent or distinguishing mark. 

 Considering this subject impartially, it must be allowed, that 

 Berzelius's arrangement, with respect to the representing oxy- 

 gen by dots, if examined even in an algebraic point of view, 

 is more simple and correct than the various accents made use 

 of by Professor Whewell, each of which represents oxygen or 

 hydrogen quite as fully as the dots indicate oxygen alone; and 

 that no clew is afforded by this method as to the elementary 

 bodies or their pro})ortions which enter into the composition 

 of a compound, but simply, that it is a union of an acid with a 

 base, &c., and that it may be sometimes even doubtful what the 

 nature of that acid is, — whether the acidifying principle be oxy- 

 gen or hygrogen. Besides these contractions, there are others 

 introduced ecjually objectionable; such as the representing the 

 Metals by smallietters, and their Oxides by the same letters, 

 commencing with the large Konian character ; as z'n Zuic, Zn 



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