1867.] Chemistry. 103 



referred to various works, in no one of which will he find the 

 same system of nomenclature and notation, and no two of which 

 we believe, he will find completely agreeing one with the other. 

 To the " Student " this can be no other than a source of embar- 

 rassment, and will, we fear, tend to limit the use of these " notes " 

 to the students attending the author's own classes. 



More advanced chemists, however, will go through the book 

 with great interest. They will find a very successful attempt at a 

 complete and consistent system of nomenclature and notation ; 

 and for that reason alone every chemist will wish for the book a 

 wide circulation. With regard to nomenclature, the author makes 

 the following remark, with which all chemists will agree : — "The 

 chemical name of a substance should not only identify and indi- 

 vidualize that substance, but it should also express the composition 

 and constitution of the body, if a compound, to which it is applied. 

 The first of these is readily attained, but the second is much more 

 difficult to secure, inasmuch as our ideas of the constitution of 

 chemical compounds — the mode in which they are built up as it 

 were— require frequent modification." On this account the author 

 adds, " all attempts to frame a perfectly consistent system of chemical 

 nomenclature have hitherto been only partially successful." 



It would be superfluous to allude here more particularly to the 

 system Dr. Frankland has adopted ; but it is only fair to remark 

 that Professor Williamson had already led the way to it. 



The system of notation made use of is, to a great extent, original, 

 and not a little interest is given to the book by the introduction of 

 " graphic formulas " in illustration of the atomic constitution of 

 bodies. Some of these formulae, particularly those of minerals, for 

 which the author owns himself indebted to Mr. McCleod, display 

 remarkable ingenuity in their construction. 



It is beyond our purpose here to attempt anything like a review 

 of the work. The very first sentence, the definition of Chemistry, 

 challenges some discussion ; but we pass by it to notice one most 

 valuable feature of the book for students. A " large amount of space 

 is devoted to equations expressing the reactions occurring in the 

 formation and decomposition of the substances treated of." Anyone 

 who has been, or is, a student of Chemistry, will recognize the 

 value of this part of the work, which we may recommend to both 

 students and teachers, in the hope — vain though it may be — that 

 it may bring us one stej) nearer the adoption of one uniform system 

 in teaching what we may be excused for considering the most 

 important of all sciences. 



