BERZELIUS, JÖNS JACOB. - THE INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE OF CHEMISTRY INTRODUCED.

Experiments on the Nature of Azote, of Hydrogen, and of Ammonia, and upon the Degrees of Oxidation of which Azote is susceptible.

London, Robert Baldwin, 1813. 8vo. Contemp. hcalf. Marbled boards. Spine lacks and boards loose. In: "Annals of Philosophy; or Magazine of Chemistry, Mineralogy, Mechanics... By Thomas Thomson". Vol. II. - VIII,480 pp. a. 7 plates. (Entire volume offered). Berzelius' paper: pp. 276-284, 357-368. Some browning and brownspots to plates.

First printing of this milestone papers in the history of chemistry, where Berzelius introduced his famous chemical symbolism (the offered paper is the first on the subject - Leicester & Klickstein calls it the "Preliminary note) whereby an element is generally represented by the first letter of its Latin name, or, in the event of elements having the same first letter, by the first two letters. Even though his atomic symbols were introduced in 1813 (see the note on p. 359), it was quite a few years before Berzelius's symbols were adopted by the chemistry community. But once accepted, they became the new international language of chemistry.

Berzelius "contributed more to the development of the atomic theory and to the setting up of accurate values of the atomic weights than did any other worker of the time. Of his contributions, moreover, to the development of the atomic theory and the advancement of chemical science, not the least valuable was the introduction of a chemical symbolism which, with slight modification, is in use at the present day. By giving his symbols a quantitative meaning - the symbol of an element representing one atomic proportion by weight - it was possible "to show briefly and clearly the number of elementary atoms in each compound and, after the determination of their relative weights, present the results of each analysis in a simple and easely retained manner". This symbolism was speedily adopted on the Continent but, in England, only after some considerable time."(Findlay "A Hundred Years of Chemistry", p. 14.).

Parkinson "Breakthroughs", 1813 C. - Leicester & Klickstein "A Source Book in Chemistry", p. 258 ff. - Holmberg 1813:28 a.

Order-nr.: 49243