SIMPLE SALTS. 237 



convenient to consider the simple salts in the 

 first place, because a knowledge of them is 

 necessary in order to understand the constitution 

 of the double salts. 



SECT. I. 



OF THE SIMPLE SALTS. 



M. GAYTON-MORVEAU, to whom the science of 

 chemistry is indebted for the present nomencla- 

 ture of the salts, divided them into as many ge- 

 nera as there were acids, and gave each genus a 

 name derived from that of the acid belonging to 

 it. Bergman, who had contrived a Latin no- 

 menclature for the salts some years before the 

 appearance of Morveau's nomenclature, on the 

 other hand, divided them into as many genera 

 as there were bases, and derived the generic 

 names from that of the base. In this plan he 

 was followed by Dr. Black. Both of these me- 

 thods of arranging the salts have their advan- 

 tages and disadvantages. In reality, which ever 

 mode we adopt, we clap under the same genus, 

 salts possessing very different and almost op- 

 posite properties. At present I shall follow 

 Bergman's method, because I have arranged the 

 salts according to it in my System of Chemistry. 

 In general I shall merely give the constituents of 



