and contains 1 atom of each of its constituents. This is called the oxide, protoxide, or monoxide, and forms the standard to which those both above and below it are preferred. Thus, supposing M to be the metal, we may have:—
| Suboxide or dioxide (suboxydum, dioxydum) | M2O |
| Oxide, protoxide, or monoxide (oxydum, protoxydum) | MO |
| Sesquioxide (sesquioxydum) | M2O3 |
| Binoxide, dioxide, or deutoxide (binoxydum, deutoxydum) | MO2 |
| Teroxide or trioxide (teroxydum, tritoxydum) | MO3 |
| Peroxide (peroxydum) | That containing the largest proportion of oxygen. |
Salts.—a. Acids having names ending in -IC give rise to salts whose names end in ATE; thus nitrIC acid yields nitrATES, e.g. nitrate of silver. -ATE is Latinised by -AS, e.g. nitrate of silver becomes argenti nitrAS.
b. Acids possessing names ending in -OUS form salts having names ending in -ITE; thus sulphurOUS acid produces sulphITES, e.g. sulphite of sodium. -ITE is Latinised by -IS; e.g. sulphite of sodium becomes sulphIS.
c. The preceding names are presumed to refer to neutral compounds. In acid salts the prefixes noticed above are added to express the preponderance of the acid radical over the metal. KHSO4 is called acid sulphate of potassium, BIsulphate of potassium, or BIsulphate of potash, the neutral sulphate being K2SO4.
d. In basic salts, or those in which the metal is in excess of the acid radical, the prefixes -SUB and -DI are employed; e.g. the formula of neutral acetate of lead is PbĀ2. This salt, when boiled with oxide of lead (a base), furnishes [PbĀ2PbO] and [PbĀ22PbO]. They are both, therefore, basic acetates; and to distinguish one from the other the former is called DIacetate and the latter TRIacetate of lead; -di referring to the presence of two atoms of lead and -tri to three.
Formerly the salts of the metals of the alkalies and alkaline earths received names which indicated the existence in them of the oxides of such metals. Thus, the terms carbonate of soda, nitrate of potash, carbonate of lime, sulphate of magnesia, names by which these fluids are still designated by some chemists are now substituted by the more systematic and less speculative names of carbonate of sodium, nitrate of potassium, carbonate of calcium, and sulphate of magnesium. Another, and in the opinion of the editor, a still better system of nomenclature is that in which the metallic or basic radical is mentioned first; e.g. calcium sulphate instead of sulphate of calcium, ammonium chloride for chloride of ammonium. When the same radicals form more than one series of salts, each series is distinguished by appending the terminations -IC and -OUS to that part of the name which refer to the basic radical; e.g. mercurOUS
chloride (HgCl), mercurIC chloride(HgCl2); ferrOUS sulphate (FeSO4), ferrIC sulphate(Fe2(SO4)3).
Non-metallic bodies, &c. The names of the compounds formed by the union of the non-metallic elements, and certain other bodies, with the metals and with each other, either terminate in -IDE, Latinised by -IDUM, or in -URET, Latinised by -URETUM; as, arsenIDE or arseniURET (arsenIDUM, arseniURETUM), bromIDE, carbIDE or carbURET, chlorIDE, cyanIDE fluorIDE, hydrIDE, iodIDE, sulphIDE or sulphURET, &c. The first of these terminations now prevails among English scientific chemists. The prefixes already noticed are also employed here.
Metals. The names of the metals (those of them, at least, that have been given during the present century) end in -IUM or (less frequently) in -UM; as potassIUM, sodIUM, platinUM. The Latin names of several of the non-metallic elementary bodies also end in -IUM; as, iodinIUM, nitrogenIUM, &c.