154 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIII. No. 448. 



The discoverer of a new idea can with com- 

 parative ease decide how it shall be expressed 

 in his own language, but when the new word 

 or phrase is translated into another language 

 and there is no one to dictate its form, con- 

 fusion is very liable to result. 



The following terms appear to be slowly 

 creeping in from the German in one dress or 

 another, and, whatever forms the words may 

 have, already assumed in English, it may 

 safely be said that the writers and translators 

 who have used them are more desirous that 

 there should be correctness and uniformity 

 than that personal preferences should prevail. 



Mol, or mole. — ' Gram-molecule ' has become 

 so common a word that a contraction of it 

 seems desirable. Ostwald (in German) took 

 the familiar abbreviation of Molekul, or 

 Molekel, viz., Mol., dropped the period and 

 made it an independent word as a substitute 

 for GrammmoleTcul. The term has already 

 appeared as ' mol ' in at least four English 

 tests (three American and one British) ; Ost- 

 wald's translator, however, renders it ' mole.' 



The choice between the two words may be- 

 come easier after a consideration of their 

 merits. ' Mol ' has (1) the same spelling as 

 the German original; (2) it is a new word 

 and does not already have several meanings, 

 as does ' mole.' On the other hand, it may 

 be said for 'mole' that (1) it is pronounced 

 like the German original and (2) is its proper 

 and euphonious English equivalent, especially 

 if it is premised that the word is actually of 

 Latin derivation (from moles) and that there 

 is no necessity of conforming precisely to the 

 German spelling. Further, (3) ' mol,' if 

 spelled as pronounced, would be 'moll.' More- 

 over, (4) ' mol ' is easily confused with ' mol.,' 

 the common abbreviation of ' molecule.' In- 

 asmuch (5) as ' molecule ' is a diminutive of 

 moles, or ' mole,' the latter term might very 

 properly be used for ' gram-molecule.' (6) 

 The counter-argument that ' mole ' is already 

 in the dictionary with four or five meanings 

 may be discounted by those who regard the 

 addition of one to five as of no great conse- 

 quence. In the light of the above arguments 

 ' mole ' seems to have the advantage, though 



neither word is entirely satisfactory. Per- 

 haps ' grammole ' would be better than either ; 

 it has almost every qualification except ex- 

 treme brevity. 



Molar. — We undoubtedly need a word to 

 characterize a solution standardized on a 

 molecular basis (instead of on the usual an- 

 alytically equivalent basis) and ' gram-molec- 

 ular,' as weU as ' molecular-equivalent,' is too 

 long. ' Molar ' sounds well. The principal 

 objection to it is that it already has a mean- 

 ing in physical science 'opposed to molecular' ! 



If ' molar ' is to become the contraction of 

 ' gram-molecular,' ' mole ' would be the anal- 

 ogous contraction of ' gram-molecule.' 



Metal-ammonia compounds. It is rather 

 difficult for the beginner to understand the 

 German terminology of these interesting com- 

 pounds, but the English texts, because of lack 

 of uniformity, make the case almost hopeless. 

 One popular text misleads us at the start by 

 calling them ' metallamm onium compounds.' 

 English investigators in this field would do 

 well to aid us in securing uniformity. 



Hydroperoxide. — An abbreviation of ' hy- 

 drogen peroxide.' That Hydroperoxyd has 

 much advantage over Wasserstoff super oxyd is 

 readily seen, but just why we should drop 

 three letters from ' hydrogen peroxide ' is not 

 so clear. It should be borne in mind that 

 the per in ' hydrogen peroxide ' is derived 

 from an unreliable nomenclature. In view 

 of the possibility of the existence of a still 

 higher oxide of hydrogen, either (HO) or 

 HO^^, ' hydrogen dioxide ' seems to be the 

 only safe name for the compound H„0,. 



Activate. — There is probably little objection 

 to the revival of this practically obsolete word 

 to express an effect on a substance by which 

 it is rendered more active chemically. 



H. G. Cooper. 



StKACUSE XjNnrERSITT. 



CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. 



CLIMATE AND CROPS IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



' The Economic Geography of the Argen- 

 tine Republic ' is disctissed by J. Eussell 

 Smith in the Bulletin of the American Geo- 

 graphical Society for April (pp. 130-143), 



