The Tableau de la Nomenclature Chimique

Much has been written on the Methode de nomenclature chimique, and much has been said in praise of the Tableau of the Methode and its outstanding significance in the history of early modem chemistry. But despite this unanimously shared assessment and appreciation, no thorough and exhaustive analysis of the Tableau s classification of chemical substances has been presented by any historian of science up to now. Only the first column of the table, the column for simple substances, was hitherto subjected to closer inspection. Thus our analysis of the table s classification cannot build on the results of earlier investigations, but has to start from scratch. This means we first have to provide an overview on the table to which we can refer and return whenever desirable in the course of the subsequent investigations. In what follows we will first describe the arrangement of the table and then analyze its classification s formal features. 

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As its title states, the Methode de nomenclature chimique was a treatise on chemical nomenclature, or, more precisely, on the methods of constructing names of chemical substances. As Lavoisier stressed, the aim of the work was to present a method for systematic naming— mmc methode de nommer Classification was one prerequisite of this method, and linguistic rules were another. Whereas the authors elaborated broadly on the latter—not only in the opening Memoire by Lavoisier, but also on several occasions in Guyton s Memoire—, they said almost nothing about their mode of classifying, at least not verbally, in the essays of the Methode. Yet their classification is presented in form of a table inserted in the Methode, the Tableau de la nomenclature chimique. 

Figure 5.4 Classificatory structure of the Tableau de la nomenclature chimique.

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