There is also one element which does not fall into any of Snter's categories
I
Silicon
LETTERS
*i kuei
T o the Editor: The article "Naming Chemical Elements in Chinese" (THIS,JOURNAL, 40, 44 (1963)) proved very interesting. There are slightly different phonetic symbols published in "Hua Hsiieh Ming Ming Yuan T s P ("Princi~lesof Chemical Nomenclature." Ministry of Education, 1932) on pages 3-7. copper ( f u n ) mercury (ku?) hydrogen (t's*) I
platinum ( p a i ) tungsten (w=)
tin ( s i ) silver ( i i n ) oxygen (ian)
gold ( t ~ i n ) lead ( t ~ m van) , phosplrorus ( l i n )
bromine ( ~ i u ) arsenic (aan)
uranium (jiu)
The name for silicon is pronounced kuei
1
Names such as
1
-
Hydrogen
swn
Nitrogen
chih
Sauerstoff
SU'
Stickstoff
are Japanese names and have been discarded. The symbols on the left are more commonly written as on the right
I
Nitrogen
1
Nitrogen
To the Editor: Dr. Suter's article, "Sarning Chemical Elements in Chinese," is quite informative and should be commended for bringing to the reader's attention how Chinese chemists have ingeniously translated chemical names. As to the puzzle of the three character transliteration of 'j;ih-chi-t&" (Fig. 7, p. 46) for germanium, it is apparently due to a misunderstanding on the part of Dr. Suter. Actually each of the three characters represents tentative single character transliterations for germanium. Thus "jih" and "chi" are phonetical translations of the first syllable of germanium. "T6," on the other hand, is a nonphonetical transliteration using a metal radical and a symbol for Deutschland.
I
tasteless gas
similar to hydrogen and oxygen. The meaning is to moderate the oxygen action, not "tasteless."
To the Editor: The official names now established for mercury, radium, and germanium are:
388 / Journal of Chemical Education
T o the Editor. Dr. Albert E. Finholt has sent me references to publications from St. Olaf College which I missed in my tabulations for the article "IMaintaining and Sustaining Chemical Publications in Liberal Arts Colleges" (THISJOURNAL, 39, 585 (1962)). The eight puhlications which were listed on my worksheets from this institution were concentrated in four years. This accounts for my omitting St. Olaf from the list of colleges which had publications for five or more years. The following data on publications from St. Olaf College should be added to the table on page 586 of the November 1962 issue: there were two publications in 1953, two in 1954, two in 1956, one in 1957, one in 1958,and three in 1960for a total of eleven papers.
