advances with the order in which they are placed in the alphabet. O?ie, two, 

 three, four and five are respectively expressed by a, e, i, o and u, having the 

 short or stopped sound as heard in bat, bet, bit, hot, hut; and six, seven, eight, 

 nine and ten by the same vowels having a long or full sound. In foreign lan- 

 guages, it may be best to designate the long sound by a sign placed over the 

 vowel ; but in our language, it is found by experience more convenient to 

 place e before each of the vowels, which invariably indicates their long or full 

 sound as heard in the words great, greet, sleight, yeoman, euphony. These ten 

 distinctive sounds may be illustrated by a single example. From one to ten 

 atoms of iron, inclusive, have the following names : 



Fe. Ferram; Fe* Ferrem ; Fe s , Ferrim ; Fe t , Ferrom ; Fe 5 , Ferrum; Fe 6 , Ferream ; 

 Fei, Ferreem; Fe, F err elm ; Fe 9 , Ferreom ; Feio, Ferreum. 



The proper diphthongs are sometimes used for the even numbers between 10 

 and 20. These will be remembered from the fact that their value is the sum 

 of their vowel- values, either short or long : thus, oi is 12 = 9 -}- 3 ; ou is 

 14 = 9 + 5 ; au is 16 = 6 -|- 10 ; oo is 18 = 9 -f- 9. The consonant y 

 is 10, and used only in connection with vowels, which will express all the 

 numbers to and including 20 : w is 20, and, with the usual appendage, will 

 express the numbers to and including 30. X is also used, and when preceded 

 by a vowel, which thus has the power of an exponent, will express a progression 

 by tens to one hundred; thus, 10, ax; 20, ex; 30, ix ; 40, ox; 50, ux ; 60, 

 eax ; 70, eex ; 80, eix ; 90, eox ; 100, eux. In the same manner, these vowels 

 preceding qu express the hundreds to and including one thousand, and the 

 intermediate numbers are represented by suffixing some of the characters 

 previously explained. 



Very few chemical compounds, now known, have a composition represented 

 by atomic numbers higher than one hundred. A large majority of the bodies 

 of known composition do not require numbers as high as ten. The following 

 selections will show more clearly the numerical value of each letter, and the 

 extent to which this numerative system may be carried . 



6. The following metalloids have names terminating with their well-known 

 symbolic letters : one atom of each is here denoted. 



Fluorine, 

 Nitrogen, 

 Carbon, 



fluraf or af; 

 nitran or an ; 

 carbac or ac ; 



Bromine, bromab or ab ; 

 Phosphorus, phosap orap; 

 Sulphur, sulphas or as. 



In a few instances where the symbolic letter could not be used, the terminal 

 letter adopted may be associated with some prominent characteristic of the 

 element. Thus I represents the lightest of substances, an atom of hydrogen 

 is hydral or al ; d represents the densest of the gaseous elements, an atom of 

 chlorine is chlorad or ad; v represents a volatile producing a violet vapor, one 

 atom of iodine is idav or av. The atom par excellence is at : oxygen, exceeding 

 in quantity all other elements of the Earth's crust, has for the name of a single 

 atom oxat or at. An atom of selenium is selaz or az : it bears a strong resem- 

 blance in its reactions to as. Boron and silicon or silicium, like carbon, are 



>L 



