T. S. Hunt on Chemical Classifications. 95 



of the hitherto mysterious phenomena which have been designa- 

 ted as arising from allotropic conditions of the elements, they 

 may not be deemed unworthy of notice. 



Having grouped together under the saline type of M OJ with 



the oxygen type and their poly meres, by far the greater number 

 of all the forms of matter with which our science is cognizant, 

 we find still unclassified azote, phosphorus, arsenic and anti- 

 mony, with carbon, boron and silicon. The first four constitute 

 a well defined natural group, and the remaining are generally ar- 

 ranged together from the similarity in their physical characters 

 as well as in their saline derivatives ; this is remarkable in the 

 borates and silicates. Silicon is related to the metals through 

 columbium and titanium ; these analogies are however found 

 connecting in various ways the other groups, and there appear to 

 be good reasons for making carbon, boron and silicon a fourth 

 class, to which the submetallic bodies above mentioned, may 

 perhaps be added. 



This fourfold division of inorganic matter being established, it 

 becomes desirable to find some significant terms which may serve 

 to designate the several groups, and I would suggest the follow- 

 ing as perhaps as little objectionable as any. The first four, of 

 which water may be taken as the representative, is the Hydristic ; 

 the second, of which oxygen is the type, is the Oxystic ; the 

 third, after its most abundant species, is named the Nitristic, and 

 the fourth, for a similar reason is called the Silicistic form. 



Having in the previous pages advanced some of the principles 

 which, as I conceive, are to guide us in chemical classification, 

 and followed them out to their results, I leave the subject to 

 the consideration of philosophers. Believing in their truth and 

 their universal application, I shall be more than rewarded if the 

 views here developed shall resolve in a single mind, some of the 

 difficulties which environ the science, and shall tend in any way 

 to direct attention to the great field for research which lies before 

 the philosophic enquirer. 



I have exposed without hesitation, what I conceive to be the 

 fallacies of the schools of the day; but my object has been to 

 show their merits rather than their defects, and to exhibit their 

 real harmony with each other and with nature. The views 

 ^hich I have advanced, are in fact deduced in great part from 

 the labors and investigations of Liebig, Gerhardt and Laurent, 

 ™se illustrious names will be enrolled in the history of the 

 ^ence of their age, as the Coryph^i of chemical philosophers. 



