System of Chemistry, by Prof. Berzellus. 65 



ing of the halogene elements, he declares that " their combinations 

 with hydrogen, are not only acids, but belong to a series the most 

 puissant that we can employ in Chemistry; and in this respect they 

 rank as equals with the strongest of the acids, into which oxygen en- 

 ters as a constituent principle." And again, Vol. II, p. 162, when 

 treating of hydracids formed with the halogene class, he alleges, 

 *' The former are very powerful acids, truly acids, ajid perfectly like 

 the oxacids ; but they do not combine with salifiable bases ; on the 

 contrary, they decompose them, and produce haloid salts.^^ 



In this paragraph, the acids in question are represented as pre- 

 eminently endowed with ihe attributes of acidity, while at the same 

 time they are alleged to be destitute of his ^^ principal character of 

 acids," the property of combining with salifiable bases. 



In page 41, (same volume) treating of the acid consisting of two 

 volumes of oxygen and one of nitrogen, considered by chemists gen- 

 erally as a distinct acid, Berzelius uses the following language. " If 

 I have not coincided in their view, it is because, judging by what we 

 know at present, the acid in question cannot combine with any base, 

 either directly or indirectly, that consequently it does not give salts, 

 and that salifiable bases decompose it always into nitrous acid,* and 

 nitric oxide gas. It is not then a distinct acid, and as such, ought 

 not to be admitted in the nomenclature." Viewing these passages 

 with all that deference which I feel for the productions of the author, 

 I am unable to understand upon what principle the exclusion of ni- 

 trous acid from the class of acids, can be rendered consistent with the 

 retention, in that class, of the compounds formed by hydrogen with 

 " Aa/ogene" elements. 



Having thus endeavored to show that the words acid, salt, and 

 base, have not been so defined as to justify their employment as a 

 basis of the Berzelian nomenclature, I will, with great deference, pro- 

 ceed to state my objections to the superstructure, erected upon this 

 questionable foundation. Consistently with the French nomencla- 

 ture, the combinations formed by electronegative principles, with oth- 

 er elements, have been distinguished as acids, or characterized by a 

 termination in " ide," or in " wre," which last monosyllable, when 

 there has been no intention of altering the meaning, has, by the Brit- 

 ish chemists, been translated into wet. The termination in ide, 



* Hyponitrous acid of other chemists. 



Vol. XXVIL— No. 1. 9 



