according as it is capable of one or two degrees of oxygenation, a new
method is certainly necessary. The method we have adopted, drawn from
the nomenclature of the acids, is perfectly analogical, and, following
nature in the simplicity of her operations, gives a natural and easy
nomenclature applicable to every possible neutral salt.
In giving names to the different acids, we express the common property
by the generical term _acid_, and distinguish each species by the name
of its peculiar acidifiable base. Hence the acids formed by the
oxygenation of sulphur, phosphorus, charcoal, &c. are called _sulphuric
acid_, _phosphoric acid_, _carbonic acid_, &c. We thought it likewise
proper to indicate the different degrees of saturation with oxygen, by
different terminations of the same specific names. Hence we distinguish
between sulphurous and sulphuric, and between phosphorous and phosphoric
acids, &c.
By applying these principles to the nomenclature of neutral salts, we
give a common term to all the neutral salts arising from the combination
of one acid, and distinguish the species by adding the name of the
salifiable base. Thus, all the neutral salts having sulphuric acid in
their composition are named _sulphats_; those formed by the phosphoric
acid, _phosphats_, &c. The species being distinguished by the names of
the salifiable bases gives us _sulphat of potash_, _sulphat of soda_,
_sulphat of ammoniac_, _sulphat of lime_, _sulphat of iron_, &c. As we
are acquainted with 24 salifiable bases, alkaline, earthy, and metallic,
we have consequently 24 sulphats, as many phosphats, and so on through
all the acids. Sulphur is, however, susceptible of two degrees of
oxygenation, the first of which produces sulphurous, and the second,
sulphuric acid; and, as the neutral salts produced by these two acids,
have different properties, and are in fact different salts, it becomes
necessary to distinguish these by peculiar terminations; we have
therefore distinguished the neutral salts formed by the acids in the
first or lesser degree of oxygenation, by changing the termination _at_
into _ite_, as _sulphites_, _phosphites_[34], &c. Thus, oxygenated or
acidified sulphur, in its two degrees of oxygenation is capable of
forming 48 neutral salts, 24 of which are sulphites, and as many
sulphats; which is likewise the case with all the acids capable of two
degrees of oxygenation[35].
It were both tiresome and unnecessary to follow these denominations
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