Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 April 2024
For the last twenty years Luis Prieto, in his published work in French, has reiterated that the systematic study of the codes (other than natural languages) which were invented by men for communication purposes is in and of itself an undertaking essential for an understanding of both the laws of communication in general and of the mechanisms of these systems of communication—the totality of which would make up the (Saussurian) semiology of communication (Prieto 1966, 1968, 1975). Among these systems the symbols of chemistry—referred to as such for a long time— and their combinatory rules constitute a very ancient code or series of codes (Crosland, 1962). Up to now this code has not been subjected to a genuine semiological study, except for the essay by Dagognet (1969, see Mounin 1970) which is more literary or poetical and metaphysical than scientific.