Th’ Gaussling was interested to learn of an obscure author detailing an alternative and systematic nomenclature of the elements of the periodic table. The book is “Chemistianity“, by J. Carrington Sellars, F.C.S., printed in 1873.  The link provided is part of a larger chemical etymology website authored by historian Peter van der Krogt called Elementymology & Elements Multidict. 

Chemistry is such a large field and so rich in detail and history that we may forget how much struggle occured to give us even the most basic of concepts.  The science of chemistry largely rests on the behaviour of valence electrons confined to oddly shaped patches of 3-space called orbitals.  The nuclei set up the charge fields, but the chemistry is in how the electrons behave. It is the electrons that we manipulate in the laboratory to afford the wonderful spectum of chemical substances.

What is astonishing is the number of technologies and the extent of groundwork that had to overlap in order for our now cherished quantum/electronic theory of chemistry to arise. A long line of chemists like Berzelius had to produce and characterize new elements so Mendeleev could chart the patterns and predict new elements. Other workers would fill in the gaps.