Chemists request for a new chemical nomenclature

The four chemists linking of the proposed new nomenclature to Lavoisier s new chemical system was, of course, a bold challenge to the chemical community, for a proposal of a radical new nomenclature was more hkely to win over a scientific community if it carefully avoided all further controversial issues. Indeed, the four authors of the Methode did not address the issue of the new chemical system openly in the Memoire submitted to the Academy. Instead they stressed the principle of constructing names for chemical substances according to their composition and explained how they had employed this principle. 

26 For the preparation of red mercury precipitate, which did not actually involve precipitation, see Crosland [1962] p. 89. 

Against this background, it seems rather surprising that the nomenclature proposed by Lavoisier and his collaborators did not meet with fierce resistance, but became accepted in almost all European countries and even in the United States of America within fifteen years. The new chemical nomenclatures that emerged in the different vernaculars around 1800 were to a large extent highly uniform, since they followed 

27 For Macquer s nomenclatural efforts, see Smeaton [1954] p. 88f. and Crosland [1962] p. 136ff. 

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In chapter 4 we will discuss the concrete circumstances under which Lavoisier and his collaborators constructed the classification of substances represented in the tableau as a means of nomenclatural reform. Apart from information on the persons involved and the institutional conditions, we will pay particular attention to four issues 1) the new nomenclature s role in propagating Lavoisier s new chemical system 2) chemists request for a new chemical nomenclature 3) the question of whether the new nomenclature indicated a divorce of academic from practical artisa-... 

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