NOMENCLATURE  Otf  SALTS. 
213 
NOTE  ON  THE  NOMENCLATURE  OF  SALTS. 
By  Franklin  Bache,  M.  D.1 
To  the  Editor  of  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy  : 
In  the  number  for  March,  1855,  of  your  Journal,  you  have 
published  some  remarks,,  by  Dr.  J.  C.  Morris,  on  the  nomencla- 
ture of  salts.  The  writer  advocates  the  plan  of  naming  them 
on  what  may  be  called  the  neutrality  principle.  In  many 
neutral  salts  there  is  one  equivalent  of  acid  for  every  equivalent 
of  oxygen  in  the  base.  This  relation  is  shown  in  the  two  salts, 
severally  expressed  by  the  formulae,  FeO,S03,  and  Fe203,3S03. 
But  this  relation  of  the  acid  to  the  oxygen  of  the  base  does  not 
always  indicate  a  neutral  salt ;  for  it  exists  in  carbonate  of  po- 
tassa  (KO,C02)  which  is  an  alkaline  salt.  Again,  in  borax 
(NaO,2B03)  there  are  two  equivalents  of  acid  to  one  equivalent 
of  oxygen  in  the  base,  and,  with  this  large  proportion  of  acid, 
the  salt  is  still  alkaline.  In  relation  to  this  salt  Fownes  says, 
"  Although  by  constitution  an  acid  salt,  borax  has  an  alkaline 
reaction  to  test  paper."  This  is  as  much  as  to  say,  "  Although 
in  theory  borax  is  an  acid  salt,  yet  in  fact  it  is  an  alkaline  one." 
Would  it  not  be  better  to  abandon  this  notion  of  the  constitu- 
tional acidity  or  neutrality  of  a  salt,  when  it  is  in  so  many  in- 
stances contradicted  by  the  fact  ? 
But,  waiving  all  objections  to  the  principle  of  a  conventional 
neutrality,  founded  on  the  constitution  of  the  salt,  irrespective 
of  its  reaction  with  test-paper,  it  may  be  useful  to  inquire,  what 
are  the  advantages  of  a  nomenclature  for  salts,  based  on  this 
principle.  In  the  paper  above  referred  to,  it  is  contended  that 
the  generic  name,  representing  the  acid  in  a  set  of  salts  having 
a  common  acid,  must,  in  all  the  neutral  salts,  irrespective  of  the 
number  of  equivalents  of  acid  present,  be  used  without  prefix, 
indicating  the  number  of  these  equivalents.  Thus,  in  the  case 
of  the  neutral  salts,  formed  by  the  union  of  sulphuric  acid  with 
protoxide  and  sesquioxide  of  iron  respectively  (FeO,S03,  and 
Fe203,3S03),  it  is  contended  by  the  writer  of  the  paper,  that 
the  correct  names  are  sulphate  of  protoxide  of  iron,  and,  sul- 
phate of  sesquioxide  of  iron  ;  or  (indicating  the  stage  of  oxida- 
tion of  the  metal  of  the  base  by  a  prefix)  protosulphate  of 
iron,  and  sesquisulphate  of  iron. 
The  principle  of  nomenclature  wliich  will  be  advocated  in  this 
