JANTJABY 13, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



63 



from 5 to 20 per cent. The academic depart- 

 ment has Y32 students as compared with 636 

 a year ago. The medical school, which for 

 the first time required more than a high- 

 school training for admission, has practically 

 the same number of students as it had a year 

 ago, 316 men fulfilling the requirement of 

 two years' college work having entered the 

 school. The number of officers and instruc- 

 tors is the largest in the history of the uni- 

 versity, numbering 761, including the emeritus 

 professors, of whom there are 16. The newly- 

 appointed professors include: William B. Fite 

 and Herbert E. Hawks, in the department of 

 mathematics; Walter Irvine Slichter, elec- 

 trical engineering; George V. Wendell, phys- 

 ics, and Milton C. Whitaker, industrial chem- 

 istry. 



Dr. Edgak F. Smith, professor of chem- 

 istry in the University of Pennsylvania, he- 

 came provost on New Year's Day, succeeding 

 Dr. Charles C. Harrison, who had held this 

 ofiice for seventeen years. Dr. Smith will 

 continue to lecture on chemistry. 



Professor G. E. Thompson, professor of 

 mining. University of Leeds, has been ap- 

 pointed professor of mining at the South 

 African School of Mines and Technology, 

 Johannesburg, and principal of the college. 



Professor Guignard, who has served for 

 fifteen years as director of the Paris School 

 of Pharmacy, has resigned his appointment 

 and is succeeded by Mr. Henry Gautier, pro- 

 fessor of mineral chemistry at the school. 



The professors of the Paris medical college 

 have nominated Dr. Dejerine, professor of 

 medical pathology, to the clinical chair of dis- 

 eases of the nervous system at the Salpetriere. 

 This position, once held by Charcot, was re- 

 cently occupied by Professor Raymond, who 

 died last September. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



^ inorganic nomenclature 

 In the issue of Science for December 9 ap- 

 peared an article on the nomenclature of the 

 acid phosphates. The author, E. E. B. Me- 

 Kenney, pointed out the difficulty of identify- 



ing these from the trade names, and suggested 

 more exact names as primary, secondary and 

 tertiary or, better, mono-, di- and tri-potas- 

 sium phosphates. While the change would be 

 a step in the right direction it fails with salts 

 of the polyvalent metals; for the mono-cal- 

 cium salt would correspond to the di-potas- 

 sium and thus the confusion would be per- 

 petuated. It appears to the writer that a more 

 scientific method would be to indicate the 

 number of replaceable hydrogen atoms (per 

 molecule of acid) present in the salt. Thus 

 K,IIPOj and CaHPO^ would be named mono- 

 hydrogen phosphates while KHJPO^ and 

 CaH,(PO,), would be the di-hydrogen phos- 

 phates. The normal phosphates could then 

 be designated as such or simply as phosphates. 



In this connection I would call the atten- 

 tion of chemists, manufacturers and printers 

 of chemical names to the need of a thorough 

 revision of inorganic nomenclature. It is still 

 common to hear and read the names potassic 

 hydrate for potassium hydroxide and sodic 

 carbon for sodium carbonate; the hydrogen 

 (acid) carbonates are called bicarbonates be- 

 cause in making them two equivalents of the 

 acid are required for each equivalent of the 

 base. But modern chemistry is founded on 

 molecular rather than equivalent quantities 

 and a bicarbonate should mean, therefore, two 

 carbonate (CO.) radicals in the molecule of 

 the salt. Besides, the bichromates are not 

 acid salts at all in the sense of containing 

 replaceable hydrogen atoms. Likewise the 

 percarbonates, persulphates and permanga- 

 nates do not foUow the nomenclature of the 

 perchlorates, perbromates and periodates. 

 Also the dioxides and peroxides are named 

 with no discrimination as to differences in 

 constitution. 



Has not the time come for scientific men 

 to be exact and scientific in the matter of 

 chemical nomenclature, and to demand of 

 manufacturers the use of names which shall 

 indicate the composition of the material desig- 

 nated? And would it not be well for section 

 C of the American Association, or the Amer- 

 ican Chemical Society, to appoint a perma- 

 nent committee on inorganic nomenclature to 



