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ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
ART. XXI.— OF CHEMICAL SYMBOLS. 
By Robert Bridges, M.D. 
The constant use which is now made of symbols to express 
the nature of chemical combinations, in chemical treatises, ren- 
ders it necessary that they should be understood by all whom 
interest or inclination may lead to such studies. This journal, 
during it progress, has contained many papers in which this 
substitution of signs for words takes place, and it may not be 
inappropriate, at the present time, to offer to its readers some 
explanation of this subject. It is to be hoped that those 
persons who have not acquired this knowledge will not be 
deterred from giving some attention to it, by the apparently 
difficult and abstruse nature of the signs; as they may be 
assured that the difficulty is only in appearance, and the 
knowledge of symbols can readily be obtained by any who 
may apply themselves to its acquisition. Moreover, their 
constant recurrence in chemical essays renders this knowledge 
of the greatest utility to all who desire to keep pace with the 
progress of chemistry, even in its more practical parts. 
The first point to be understood is the manner in which 
the elementary bodies are designated. The symbols to ex- 
press these should be so concise, that, when brought together 
to denote compounds, the formulae resulting may not be in- 
convenient in size, even when the compound signified 
may be very complicated. To accomplish this object, Ber- 
zelius, many years ago, proposed a set of symbols which 
have since been generally adopted. The elementary bodies 
are designated on this plan by using the initial letter of the 
Latin name of the substance, in place of the whole name; and 
when several names commence with the same letter, to use 
the initial only for the most common, and to distinguish the 
others by adding to the initial some succeeding letter, which 
shall not be common to the rest. The following is the list 
of symbols of elementary substances, as given by Berzelius. 
