The object of this paper is to propose a modification of the nomenclature of inorganic compounds now in use among chemists, which shall display with accuracy the ingredients of each compound, and the atomic ratios of each ingredient.

After stating the introduction of the principle of employing a descriptive nomenclature in chemistry by Bergman, and the happy application of it by Lavoisier and his associates, and subsequently by Berzelius, he traced the various changes rendered necessary by the improved knowledge of the more intimate constitution of compounds, resulting from the discovery of combination in definite proportions, and the atomic ratios in which combinations take place, adopted by Wollaston, Thomson, Thenard, Turner, &c.