1817.) Scientific Intelligence. 329 
perspiration in those elevated regions where the air is so attenuated 
and dry, and he caused vinegar to be mixed with the water more 
effectually to satisfy the thirst. 
VI. Chemical Nomenclature. 
(To Dr. Thomson.) 
SIR, 
Chemical students are much embarrassed by the abundance of 
synonyma. It is, on that account, very desirable that there should 
be a uniformity at least in authors of the same period; but this is 
far from being practised. I am of opinion that this diversity of 
chemical names is to be ascribed chiefly to the want of distinct 
rules for their formation, agreeably to the established analogies of 
our language. Why, may [ ask, are not yttria and barytes spelled, 
as recommended by Young—ittria and barites? Some authors 
write barita, silica, alumina, &c. Now for what reason are these 
preferable to silex, alumine, &c.? I know no one so capable of 
answering and deciding these points as the Editor of the Annals. 
He will much oblige a constant reader by his reply ; and more par- 
ticularly so, if he will have the goodness to translate the following 
French names into the language of the two theories according to 
which they are given :—1. Acide muriatique oxigéné. (Why is not 
oxide spelled with y as well as oxygen?) 2. Acide muriatique sur- 
oxigéné. 3. Acide muriatique hyper-oxigéné; or chlore, acide 
chloreux, or oxide de chlore, and acide chlorique. 
Z. 
——S 
I am afraid it would be difficult by any rules to secure a regular 
chemical nomenclature ; because the contrivers of the rules would 
have no means of enforcing the observance of them. Perhaps 
there is no great injury sustained by chemistry by the great number 
of new names that have been of late proposed. They give be- 
ginners, in the mean time, a little trouble ; but the bad ones gra- 
dually fall into disuse, while the good ones only are ultimately re- 
tained.—When foreign words are introduced into the English Jan- 
guage, it has been generally the practice to retain the mode of 
spelling employed in the language from which the word is borrowed. 
This is my reason for writing yétéria and Larytes instead of ittria 
and larites, which would have the disadvantage of keeping out of 
view the etymology, without being more conformable to the rules 
of our language than the original words.— Oxide is a contraction of 
the two Greek words ofv; and «30s. It might be written oxeide, but 
it could scarcely, with propriety, be converted into oxyde, as some, 
however, have done. We know three compounds of chlorine and 
oxygen. Chlorine is the oxymuriatic acid, or acid muriatique 
oxygéné, of former chemists. The compounds of chlorine and 
oxygen I call— 
1, Protoxide of chlorine ; the euchlorine of Davy. 
