§4:? . Mr. Vhildren's Summary Vkw of [Mat, 



Now the weights of the atoms of silver and antimony in Ber- 

 zelius's table are, 



Silver. = 2703 



Antimony = 1613 



and the protoxide of silver contains 2 atoms of oxygen, and that 

 of antimony o, and no lower states of oxidation of either metal 

 are mentioned ; 



' 2703 : 200 :• 77 : 5-69 

 1613 : 300 :\ 23 : 4-27 



But 5'69 : 4"27 is not in the ratio of 2 : I ; to obtain which, 

 and reduce the metals to a proportionate degree of oxidation, 

 recourse is had to an. imaginary oxide of antimony, at a lower 

 degree of oxidation than the lowest known oxide of that metal ; 

 and it is consequently assumed that the 23 parts of antimony, if 

 reduced to the state .of oxide, would require only two-thirds as 

 much oxygen as by the tables they ought to take. Is this good 

 logic? 



We have now to exhibit the method invented by the same 

 philosopher for denoting the composition of chemical compounds 

 by symbols, " in order -to facilitate the expression of the pro- 

 portions of their elements,- and to enable us to state briefly and 

 easily the number of elementary atoms which any of them may 

 contain." The nomenclature is wholly taken from the Latin. 



1. Simple bodies not metallic are denoted merely by the initial 

 letter of the Latin name of each substance, even though the 

 same letter be common to some of the metals ; thus S = sulphur, 

 C = carbonicum, P = phosphorus, B = boracium, (boron). Sec. 



2. A metal whose initial letter is not common to any other 

 elementary body is denoted, like the preceding substances, by 

 that letter alone, as U = uranium, K = kalium (potassium), L 

 = lithium, 8cc. ; but if the initial be common to another metal, 

 or to either of the simple non-metallic substances, then the two 

 first letters are taken as Si = silicum, Au = aurum, &c. ; but 

 if both the first and second letters be common to more than one 

 metal, then/ instead of the second letter of the name, the Jirst 

 different consonant is annexed to the initial letter. Thus St = 

 stibium, Sn = stannum. See. 



The chemical sign only denotes a single atom ; if it be neces- 

 sary to express more than one atom, a figure is placed to the 

 left of the sign ; thus, Cu + O, denotes oxidulous copper, and 

 Cu -f- 2 O, oxide of copper ; but as this method would be 

 inconveniently long for expressing the composition of a com- 

 pound of the second order, Berzehus abridges it by omitting the 

 letter O, and denoting the atoms of oxygen by dots placed over 

 the sign of the base, the number of dots indicating that of the 



