THE CHEMICAL ELEMENTS AND THEIR COMBINATIONS.
The limits of the present Work allow only of a simple sketch of the subjects which it is proposed to treat in this Chapter. Our attention therefore must be confined to an explanation of certain points which are alluded to in the First Part of the Work, and without a proper understanding of which it will be impossible for the reader to make progress.
The following division may be adopted:—The more important Elementary Bodies, with their symbols and atomic weights; the Compounds formed by their union; the class of Salts; illustrations of the nature of Chemical Affinity; Chemical Nomenclature; Symbolic Notation; the laws of Combination; the Atomic Theory; the Chemistry of Organic Bodies.
THE CHEMICAL ELEMENTS, WITH THEIR SYMBOLS AND ATOMIC WEIGHTS.
The class of elementary bodies embraces all those substances which cannot, in the present state of our knowledge, be resolved into simpler forms of matter.
The chemical elements are divided into "metallic" and "non-metallic," according to the possession of certain general characters.
The following are some of the principal non-metallic elements, with the symbols employed to designate them, and their atomic weights:[55]—
| Symbol. | Atomic Wt. | |||
| Gases. |
| Oxygen | O | 8 |
| Hydrogen | H | 1 | ||
| Nitrogen | N | 14 | ||
| Chlorine | Cl | 36 | ||
| Solids. |
| Iodine | I | 126 |
| Carbon | C | 6 | ||
| Sulphur | S | 16 | ||
| Phosphorus | P | 32 | ||
| Liquid. | Bromine | Br | 78 | |
| Unknown. | Fluorine | F | 19 | |
The metallic elements are more numerous. The following list includes only those which are commonly known:—
| Symbol. | Atomic Wt. | |||
| Metals of the Alkalies. |
| Potassium | K | 40 |
| Sodium | Na | 24 | ||
| Metals of the Alkaline Earths |
| Barium | Ba | 69 |
| Calcium | Ca | 20 | ||
| Magnesium | Mg | 12 | ||
| Metals Proper. |
| Iron | Fe | 28 |
| Zinc | Zn | 32 | ||
| Cadmium | Cd | 56 | ||
| Copper | Cu | 32 | ||
| Lead | Pb | 104 | ||
| Tin | Sn | 59 | ||
| Arsenic | As | 75 | ||
| Antimony | Sb | 129 | ||
| Nobel Metals. |
| Mercury | Hg | 202 |
| Silver | Ag | 108 | ||
| Gold | Au | 197 | ||
| Platinum | Pt | 99 | ||
