on the Use of Chemical Symbols. 251 



a system which he formerly characterized as one " in which 

 we see the acid and alkali, and the elementary composition of 

 each : the bases expressed in their initial letters ; and oxygen, 

 the great modifier of chemical properties ; — the pivot, as it 

 were, round which chemical agency revolves, — is exhibited in 

 a manner equally characteristic, prominent and compact, by 

 dots, corresponding to the number of atoms placed over the 

 symbol." Surely any alteration effected in such a system 

 must be for the worse. 



Mr. Prideaux, alluding to another set of symbols which I 

 quoted in my observations, says, " Warrington's, as there 

 printed, appears to signify quadroxide of potassium, soda, and 

 24 water." By the words as there printed, in italics, Mr. 

 Prideaux intends, I presume, to insinuate that they are so 

 printed nowhere else. Mr. Prideaux ought, however, to know 

 that the privilege of changing symbols is not confined to him- 

 self and Berzelius. Mr. Warrington proposed a notation in 

 the Lond. and Edinb. Phil. Mag., vol. i., Sept. 18.32, in which 



ammoniacal alum is symbolized by 3 (al + S ) + ((3 H). + S ); 

 but as a proof of the facility with which are 



" Atoms and systems into ruin hurl'tl," 



I may state that Mr. Warrington, dismissing his first system, has 

 projected a new one, in a " Series of Chemical Tables," printed 

 in the past year. In this the atom of alumina is represented 



o ooo hhh 



by Al, sulphuric acid by S , and ammonia by N : how these 

 would be arranged so as to symbolize alum, I shall not at- 

 tempt to determine. On a microscopic examination of Mr. 

 Warrington's new symbols, I am ready to confess that I did 

 them, though quite unintentionally, some injustice; for I ob- 

 serve that the following the P is rather larger than the (X) 

 over which it is placed, whereas they ought to have been of 

 the same size; but if an () too large or placed too high 

 up converts phosphate of soda with 24 atoms of water into 

 (juadroxide of potassium, soda, and 24 water, Mr. Prideaux 

 will not, I presume, include my friend Mr. Warrington's 

 system among those which " are a common language of sci- 

 ence, applicable to all nations, and easily acquired." 



In concluding, I must confess, that the language of symbols 

 is to me 



A Babylonish dialect 



Which learned chemists much affect; 



It is a party-Coloured dress 



' >r |i -iti-h'd and piebald languages: 



'Tis English cut on Greek and Latin, 



Like fustian heretofore on ?atin. 

 2 K 2 



