NOMENCLATURE

WOMBS ABOUT WORDS

Too Many Chemistries?

Nathaniel Thon of Princeton Univer­sity writes as follows:

"There is a profusion of 'chemistries,' compounded, hyphenated, o r qualified by adjectives formed from names o f other branches ©f science. 'Chemistry b-eing t h e noun, terms such as biological chemistry and mineralogical chemistry-, imply tha t these a re definite brandies of chemistry and that the chemistry \vhic£î governs t h e chemical behavior of organisms is different from the chemistry which operates in minerals, or in fuels, or in foods. As far as organisms go, this once lield doc t r ine has been notoriously exploded by Wohler 's classic synthesis of urea outside the organism. There is but o>ne chemistry, and there is no particular biological chem­istry. The re is, on the o the r Hand, a chemical approach to biology, a s tudy ot the chemical side of biological behavior . It is directed not towards solving prob lems of chemistry through biology^ but o f prob­lems of biology through chemistry. There­fore, noun and adjective ough t t o be re­versed, and the b ranch referxed to should be termed correctly, chemical biology.

AUSTIN M. PATTERSON*

The same applies to 'chemical miner­a logy/

"Over the last 25 years or so, a fashion has grown to differentiate between lowly physical chemistry and the nobler and superior 'chemical phys ics / T h e latter tenn suggests a branch of physics wherein problems of physics are solved with the aid of knowledge of chemistry. Actually, it is the other way around: the project is still chemistry, and only the tools are physical. Wha t actually 'differentiates' physical chemistry from the so-called chemical physics published under a blue-blooded cover is tha t the latter uses rela­tively more recent developments in physics. That 's all; and, if so, the cri­terion is much too flimsy and ephemeral to constitute a basis for a logical differ­entiation. What counts is that, in 'chemi­cal physics* as in physical chemistry, physics only provides the tools for pur­poses of chemistry. Thus , there is but one physical chemistry. Chemistry does not contribute to physics, which is anterior to it in the structure of science, much as mathematics, be ing anterior to physics, does not draw on physics, whereas physics does draw on mathematics: there is a

mathematical physics, but there is no physical mathematics. Similarly, it is biology which learns from and uses tools of chemistry. The corresponding disci­pline is not 'biological chemistry' or 'bio­chemistry,* but chemical biology."

What d o our readers think; do we have too many "chemistries"? In inviting opinions o n Dr. Thon's point of view I have only one comment, which has noth­ing to do with the logic of the question, it is the remark of an envious biologist, who at tr ibuted the marvelous growth of the AMERICAN C H E M I C A L SOCIETY to the tact that everything we touch we call "chemistry," whether biological, physical, mineralogical, pharmaceutical, or other, "while biology," he said, "is all divided up into branches with different names. No wonder w e can't get together."

Cations in Double Salts According to a revised draft of rules of

inorganic nomenclature, based on discus­sions of t he Commission on Inorganic Nomenclature in New York in 1951, the order of cations in the names of double salts will b e as follows: ( 1 ) Cations shall be arranged in order of increasing val­ency. ( 2 ) T h e cations of any one valency group shall be placed in order of increas­ing atomic number, with polyatomic radi­cal ions, e.g. ammonium, at the end of their relevant valency group. ( 3 ) If it is necessary to draw attention specifically to the existence of a hydrated cation, this may be done by writing, for example, hexaqua- or tetraqua- before the name of the simple ion. ( 4 ) When acidic hydrogen is present, in English this should be cited as "hydrogen" immçdiately before the anions.

Examples: KMgF a , potassium magne­sium fluoride; NaTl( N 0 3 ) 2 , sodium thal-l i um( I ) n i t ra te or sodium thallium dini-trate; NaKCO a , sodium potassium car­bonate; NrhMgPO*, ammonium magne-Miim phosphate; N a 2 ( N H 0 2 ( P 2 O e ) 7 H 2 O , disodinm diammonium hypophosphate heptahydrate; NaZn ( UO* )3( CsHaOa ) e -6 H 2 0 , sodi um zinc triuranv! acetate hexa-hydrate; NaZn( H 2 0 ) e ( U 0 2 ) 3 ( C 2 H 3 0 2 ) e , sodium hexaquazinc triuranyl acetate; and XaH-PCX, sodium dihydrogen phosphate.

Comments on these names may b e addressed to this column or to the Com­mission secretary, G. H . Cheesman, T h e University, Reading, England.

Steroid Report Available T h e National Research Council Com­

mittee on the Nomenclature of Steroids, of which Byron Riegel is chairman, has prepared a revised report. I t is based on the so-called Ciba report of 1950 (Chem-isiry and Industry, June 23 , 1951, SN 1-11 ) b u t contains several changes. Copies of the revised report have been made available at cost ( 50 cents ) through the courtesy of the Chemical Abstracts office, which will mail them post-free. All who are interested in the names of steroids are urged to s tudy this latest report.

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