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This volume, appropriate for both undergraduate and graduate-level courses, traces the gradual development of a chemical language, from the mystical poetry surrounding the philosopher's stone to the linguistic triumphs and extraordinary taxonomic difficulties in organic chemistry. Using rare original sources in several languages, the author presents a reasoned discourse on the idea of systematic, universal languages, and clarifies the history of chemistry through its words, from elixir to isopropyl methane. Book jacket.

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• Preface to the Dover Edition(p. vii)
• Preface to the First Edition(p. xiii)
• 1 The Language of Alchemy
• I. Allegory and Analogy in Alchemical Literature(p. 3)
• Introduction
• The Difficulty of Recognizing an Alchemical Text
• Astronomy and Alchemy
• Mythology and Alchemy
• Theology and Alchemy
• Some other Allegories
• The Difficulty of Interpreting the Texts
• Man as a Source of Analogy
• The Chemical Medicine
• Analogies Drawn from the Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms
• Sexual Symbolism
• Analogies for Chemical Processes
• Allegorical Time
• Description of the Goal of Alchemy
• II. Further Difficulties of Language(p. 25)
• The Special Use of Common Language
• Paradox
• Geometrical Representation
• Colour Symbolism
• Pictorial Representation
• Secret Names
• The Principle of Dispersion
• Codes
• III. The Dilemma of Alchemical Literature(p. 43)
• The Importance of the Written Word in the Alchemical Tradition
• The Limitations of Alchemical Literature
• The Reasons for Obscurity
• Intentional Obscurity
• Semantic Change
• Errors due to Faulty Translation and Copying
• The Effect of Obscurity in Alchemical Literature
• 2 Early Chemical Terminology
• I. Early Terminology and Names Based on Physical Properties(p. 65)
• Introduction
• Ancient Terminology
• Methods of Naming Substances
• Colour as a Basis for Chemical Names
• Terminology based on Consistency and Crystalline Form
• Terminology based on the Senses of Taste and Smell
• II. Terminology Based on Other Considerations(p. 79)
• The Association of Metals and Related Compounds with the Planets
• Terminology based on the Names of Persons
• Terminology based on Place Names
• Terminology based on Medicinal Properties
• Terminology based on the Method of Preparation of a Substance
• III. The Growth of Chemistry(p. 94)
• Chemical Terminology in the Pharmacopoeias
• The Admission of New Substances into Chemistry
• Obscure, Mystical and Contradictory Terminology
• The Confusion caused by the Use of the Same Name for Different Substances or Different Names for the Same Substance
• The Confusion resulting from Semantic Change
• Simple Terminology not Adaptable in an Expanding Science
• The Growth in Knowledge of the Constituent Parts of Compounds
• IV. The Move Towards Reform(p. 114)
• Criticisms of Terminology
• The Superiority of Names based on Composition
• Nomenclature by Definition
• The Need for Reform
• 3 The Introduction of Systematic Nomenclature into Chemistry and the Acceptance of the 1787 Reform
• I. Early Examples of Systematic Nomenclature(p. 133)
• Similar Names for Compounds of Similar Chemical Constitution
• Latin Binomial Terms
• Macquer's Proposals
• II. The Reform of Nomenclature in Botany(p. 139)
• Early Botanical Nomenclature
• Linnaeus' reform
• Linnaeus' Influence on Bergman
• III. Bergman's Chemical Nomenclature(p. 144)
• Bergman's Nomenclature up to 1775
• The Development of Bergman's Nomenclature
• Bergman's scheme of 1784
• IV. The Chemical Nomenclature Proposed by Guyton De Morveau(p. 153)
• Guyton's Early Dissatisfaction with Nomenclature
• The Influence of Bergman on Guyton
• Guyton's Memoir of 1782
• Its reception by Guyton's Contemporaries
• Further Proposals by Guyton
• The Relationship between Guyton and Bergman
• V. The Events Leading up to the Publication of the 'Methode de Nomenclature Chimique' (1787)(p. 168)
• Lavoisier's Interest in Nomenclature
• Condillac's Influence
• Fourcroy and the Question of Nomenclature
• Berthollet
• The Collaboration of Guyton and Lavoisier
• VI. The 'Methode de Nomenclature Chimique' and the Introduction of the Reformed Nomenclature in France(p. 177)
• Lavoisier's Memoir
• Guyton's Memoir
• Other Important Contents of the Methode
• Its Reception by the Academie
• Criticisms of the Nomenclature in France
• The Spread of the New Nomenclature in France
• VII. The Reception of the New Nomenclature in Britain(p. 193)
• The Translation of the Methode
• English Translations of Fourcroy and Lavoisier
• A Translation of the Table of Nomenclature
• The Attitude to the New Nomenclature of Cavendish, Black and Priestley
• Keir's Criticisms
• Irish Views on the New Nomenclature
• The Influence of Bergman's Terminology in Britain
• The Names of the Alkalis
• Other Proposals for Chemical Nomenclature
• The Introduction of the New Terms as Synonyms
• The Acceptance of the New Nomenclature in Britain
• VIII. The Adoption of the New Nomenclature in other Countries(p. 207)
• Germany
• Sweden
• Italy
• Spain
• Portugal
• Russia
• America
• IX. Early Nineteenth-Century Amendments and Improvements to the 1787 Reform in the Field of Inorganic Chemistry(p. 215)
• Early Moves towards a Quantitative Nomenclature
• The Part played by Thomas Thomson, Berzelius and Davy
• 4 Chemical Symbolism
• I. Alchemical Symbols(p. 227)
• Origin
• Classification
• Interpretation
• Compound Symbols
• The Use of Alchemical Symbols in the Eighteenth Century
• II. The Symbols of Hassenfratz and Adet(p. 245)
• III. Dalton's Atomic Symbols(p. 256)
• IV. The Symbols of Berzelius(p. 265)
• The Early Use of Abbreviations
• Berzelius' Symbols
• The General Adoption of Berzelius' Symbols
• 5 The Language of Organic Chemistry
• I. The Beginnings of Organic Chemistry(p. 285)
• Early Organic Chemistry
• The Place of Organic Chemistry in the 1787 Reform of Nomenclature
• The Quantitative Analysis of Organic Compounds
• The Pyro-Acids and Destructive Distillation
• The vague Use of the Term 'Ether'
• Different Names for the Same Compound
• The Naming of Compounds by Word Contractions
• II. Nomenclature Based on Systems of Classification and Theories of Organic Chemistry(p. 299)
• Systematic Word-Endings
• The Radical Theory
• The Type Theory
• Dumas' Nomenclature
• Laurent's Nomenclature
• Gmelin's Nomenclature
• The 'New Type Theory'
• Systems of Classification
• The 'Copula' in Organic Chemistry
• III. The Representation of Organic Compounds by Formulae(p. 319)
• Confusion in the Use of Chemical Symbols
• 'Rational' Formulae
• Isomerism
• Structural Formulae
• IV. The Development of a Systematic Nomenclature for Organic Chemistry(p. 338)
• The Contributions of Berzelius, Gerhardt and Hofmann
• The Karlsruhe Congress
• Other Steps towards a Reform of Nomenclature
• The Geneva Congress
• The Twentieth Century
• Bibliography(p. 355)
• Index of Names(p. 383)
• Index of Subjects and Chemical Names(p. 390)