Am.  Jour.  Phaem.  \ 
Nov.  1, 1872.  J 
Chemical  Nomenclature. 
499 
mean  the  result  of  the  action  2HC1  -\-  Na20— H20.  If  we  do  so,  the 
name  becomes  a  functional  one,  and  the  phrase  "muriate  of,"  or, 
what  is  neither  better  nor  worse,  "  hydrochlorate  of,"  expresses  the 
complex  operation — addition  of  hydrochloric  acid  and  simultaneous 
separation  of  water.  Similarly,  in  the  case  of  such  names  as  sul- 
phate of  potash,  nitrate  of  oxide  of  silver,  etc.^the  phrases  "  sulphate 
of,"  "nitrate  of,"  express  the  complete  operations,  addition  of  sul- 
phuric, or  nitric  acid,  and  simultaneous  separation  of  water. 
While  the  old  view  that  salts  are  compounds  of  anhydrous  acids 
and  anhydrous' bases  is  now  abandoned  by  most  theoretical  chemists, 
a  relic  of  this  view  still  remains  in  the  most  advanced  systems  of 
nomenclature,  producing  an  inconsistency  really  inconvenient  to  the 
teacher  and  student. 
The  objection  taken  to  the  name  hydrochlorate  of  soda  was  not 
only  that  the  substance  contains  no  soda,  but  also  that  it  contains  no 
hydrochloric  acid ;  this  objection  is  perfectly  valid  against  the  name 
as  a  compositional  one,  but  does  it  not  equally  hold  against  the  words 
sulphate,  nitrate,  acetate,  etc.  ?  If  we  are  to  have  hydric  sulphate 
and  hydric  acetate  for  sulphuric  and  acetic  acids,  why  not  hydric 
muriate  for  muriatic  acid  ?  That  this  question  is  not  altogether  an 
absurd  one  will  be  obvious  if  we  consider  that  all  chlorides  are  not 
muriates.  Those  substances  which  are  by  general  consent  called  salts 
stand  in  a  definite  genetic  relation  to  the  corresponding  acids  (or  the 
hydric  salts  of  the  series),  and  it  is  inconvenient  to  have  the  same 
general  name — chloride — applied  to  substances  which  do  stand  in  this 
relation  to  hydrochloric  acid,  and  also  to  those  which  do  not.  We 
may  divide  the  chlorides  into  two  groups,  very  different  in  character 
in  their  extreme  members,  and  gradually  shading  into  one  another. 
We  may  take  chloride  of  sodium  as  a  representative  of  the  one,  and 
the  chloride  of  phosphorus  as  a  representative  of  the  other.  Chloride 
of  sodium  is  a  muriate ;  the  chloride  of  phosphorus  might  be  better 
described  as  the  double  anhydride  of  muriatic  and  phosphorous  acids. 
We  may  call  the  acids  and  acid  anhydrides  negative,  the  hydrated 
bases  and  anhydrous  bases  positive ;  arranged  in  a  series,  we  find  the 
series  a  continuous  one  from  the  most  positive  or  basic  oxides  or  hy- 
drates to  the  most  negative ;  it  is,  however,  convenient  to  have  a  zero 
point,  and  it  is  no  disadvantage  if  this  zero  point  be  an  arbitrary  one. 
When  we  come  to  express  numerically  the  amount  of  positiveness  or 
negativeness  of  those  oxides  and  hydrates,  it  will  be  necessary  to 
