Italian Chemical Literature

The Italian chemical literature, though an important source of information, has found only a limited interest among American chemists. This is in part explainable by the linguistic barriers, and by the fact that it has suffered from a lack of centralized documentation and indexing in Italy. Italian chemical literature seems sure to become of increasing importance to the American chemist. 

Other Italian chemical or related journals appeared prior to the Gazzetta. In the Atti della reale accademia nazionole dei Lincei (founded by Federico Cesi in 1603) chemical papers were published by 1847, in one of its first series (4). The Giornok di farmada, di chimica e di scienze affini was published from 1851 until 1936 and the Bollettino chimico farmaceutico, first published in Milan in 1861, is still published today. In historical perspective, then, the Italian chemical literature is older than the American, the American Chemist having been first published in 1870 and the Journal of the American Chemical Society in 1876. 

Many foreign abbreviations are really a form of shorthand which frequently only the author can decipher. They are not necessarily coined on the basis of any uniform system, and that is where the main difficulty lies. This paper does not solve the difficulties encountered in connection with abbreviations used in the German, French, and Italian chemical literature, nor does it cover foreign abbreviations of journal citations or symbols. It is intended solely to afford an insight into whatever method there is in the madness, and to draw attention to some of the features to watch for as possible clues. Tables I and II list many of these abbreviations. 

FISCHBACH—TRANSLATING GERMAN, FRENCH, AND ITALIAN CHEMICAL LITERATURE... 

Fischbach, H., Translating German, French, and Italian Chemical Literature, Advances... 

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