Mention of saltpetre in 'Mischievous Night' thread reminded me of all those wonderful chemical names, long since passed into oblivion:-

Saltpetre (Potassium nitrate), Epsom(nearly typed Epson!)Salts (Magnesium Sulphate), Oil of Vitriol (Sulphuric acid), etc etc

As I am a chemist, rather than me make a whole list, maybe I can encourage you to list of as many as possible, then when it sems to be exhausted, I'll try to add some more.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-64

Current location (optional) Wirral

Fennings Fever Cure - (Nitric Acid - Aqua fortis)

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-60

Current location (optional) Lincoln

Many of these common names for compounds puzzled me. Salt is understandable, but why people bothered using Bicarbonate of Soda instead of Sodium Bicarbonate was a real puzzle. Oh, and you had to put Potash on the garden. Wierd.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Current location (optional) leeds

Chile Saltpetre, Slaked Lime, Chloride o'Lime, Gypsum, Flowers of Sulphur, Aqua Regis, Tinture of Gum Shellac, Caustic Soda, Meths.
What most of these were, I've long forgotten Brian (if I ever knew, that is).

When it comes to organic chemistry, the contemporary "systematic" notation, is a minefield for us laymen of course (not least because we'd need to know what we were talking about!)

Go on - give us the modern names for vinegar, meths and acetylene!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Well saltpetre was potassium nitrate but I never heard of 'Chile' saltpetre. Slaked lime was calcium hydroxide, Chloride o' lime was Calcium Chloride, and Gypsum was Calcium Sulphate. Flowers of Sulphur was just sulphur, but purified by sublimation (can you remmeber what that is?). Aqua Regis was Hydrochloric Acid (Aqua Fortis was nitric acid). Caustic Soda was of course sodium hydroxide , and meths is essentially ethyl alcohol rendered unpotable by addition of methanol or other additives.
Today Vinegar(acetic acid) is ethanoic acid in todays nomenclature, and Acetylene is Ethene. Meths is still the same as methanol and ethanol are still correct names.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-64

Current location (optional) Wirral

Is potassium nitrate more expensive than potassium dayrate?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 55-60

Current location (optional) Harrogate

Sulfeart of aarmonia (an attempt at the phonetics)
Anyone remember LMS roaring this and saying that it was the Silsden pronunciation?
I burst out laughing when I went to work at Silsden Dyeing Co and one of the men came out with it. He thought I was cracked.
Later he said to me,"We might be simple, lad, but we're not daft".

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 54 - 61

Current location (optional) Keighley

Just remembered 'Glaubers salt' Sodium Sulphate,
and 'Sal Ammoniac' whic was ammonium chloride and used in 'smelling salts'. 'Alum' was Potassium aluminium sulphate - it was the easiest salt to grow extra large crystals of. Alum was also used in shaving sticks to stop bleeding if you cut yourself.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-64

Current location (optional) Wirral

Have we had sal volatile? - Ammonium carbonate in suspension to revive sufferers of the vapeurs.
And while we're at it Sal Mineo - who if he had lived and gone to kbgs, would have left in 1955.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-60

Current location (optional) Lincoln

Quicklime, cream of tartar.

A non-standard one to which I was introduced at Trico -
'trickle-ethylene'.
I just managed to keep my face straight when I heard this one.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 54 - 61

Current location (optional) Keighley

I guess it depended on whom you talked to at t'Trico. When I worked there I was told it was Trico-ethylene - said with a certain visible amount of pride! Wasn't it used int'barfin?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1951-58

We used the stuff in a de-greasing bath at Anderton Springs, Bingley - the fumes cleared the head wonderfully on a Monday morning!!

'Trickle-ethylene' - yes it did depend who you were talking to. It was just one individual. It was used for bulk degreasing before my time.

During my time the operatives often asked me for a bottle to degrease enamelled sheets for re-spray. They had difficulty understanding why they finished up with a bigger patch of grease and applied still more solvent. It took me a while to persuade them that they were only spreading the grease and would be better off with detergent.

Of course it is trichlorethylene used for degreasing and also for dry-cleaning, though a more modern version is perchlorethylene, some times known as 'perk'.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 38-64

Current location (optional) Wirral

Sugar of lead (lead acetate)

This really fits in to Old Psysics better than Olde Chemistry. The impossibility of Father Christmas delivering all of those toys has been well documented, but I found this interesting page of rebuttals.

http://web.archive.org/web/20041113092029/http://home.uchicago.edu/~rascalzo/arch/palace/library/humor-tech/santa-physics.html

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-61

Current location (optional) Blue Mountains, Australia via Haworth

I am resurrecting this old thread because those interested in the subject may like to know that that an old book, first published in 1960, has been made available free of charge on the Internet.'The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments' can be downloaded from http://tinyurl.com/6j84c9

It is about 28Mb long and at 114 pages, rather too long to print, but is a fascinating picture of what chemistry was like at that time.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-64

Current location (optional) Wirral

Brian some thoughts on your thread. As I recall the old School Certificate Chemistry papers these old names figured in the first or second questions in the 'A' Section of the exam.
There is a medical museum in Leeds, wll worth a visit, to which someone has given his collection of old Chemist's porcelain containers, quite beautiful and patterned and the name of the contained compound printed in Latin. Contributors naming Aqua Regis, etc reminded me of this.
Concerning the Chemistry paper, I got a credit ( to my surprise ) but some 40 years later I was unable to make any sense whatsoever of my son's GCSE paper.
I also recall Stoker advising us we would be asked for the preparation of Nitrous Oxide and that the equation was worth ten marks and we would also be asked about the commercial production of Ammonia. This was based on his vastly experienced analysis of previous years papers and does show how the subject had become fossilised to some extent. He was correct in both cases. Was this cheating??
I also recall the Chemistry text book had a picture of a boy who had grown a quite huge Alum crystal. The girls here in the Philippines use the crystal alum to deodorise their armpits after sweating.

Yes Arthur, I am aware of the Museum in Leeds, but not been there. You also get some old 'chemist' vessels turning up on programmes like 'Antiques Roadshow' and the like.
Aluminium salts seem to be present in most 'deo' formulations, even modern ones. 'Mum' for example contains Aluminium Zirconium Pentachlorohydrate, others Aluminium Chlorhydrate. There was however some concern in the chemical press a while ago that Aluminium salts may have a contributory factor in breast cancer, yet they are still being widely used.
Alum was also used in those sticks you could get to prevent bleeding if you cut yourself shaving

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-64

Current location (optional) Wirral

Is the Birmingham district, Alum Rock, the source of Styptic Pencils then?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1958-65

Current location (optional) Dudley, West Midlands

I believe, Arthur, that Stoker was an examiner for JMB Chemmy which may account for his success as a tipster.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1952-60

Current location (optional) Lincoln

That will explain it Terry.
At the same time Scratcher Marsden always gave you two maps in his geography end of term examination. He had these mimeoed and brought to his room. I was sat at my desk at the front of the class when they were brought to him. Very slowly he went to his cupboard with the maps fully evident paused in front me and looked down at the maps and looked me in the eyes. I looked at the maps and recognised India. He waited and then slowly opened the cupboard and placed them inside. Soon all the school knew one of the maps later the word went round that the other was Russia in Europe so he must have played the game with another class. Both maps were in the exam.
One way of getting good exam results I suppose.
I can still recall the five rivers of the Punjab after all those years. Indus,Jelum,Cheenab Ravi Sutlej

Just going back to Arthur's comment about nitrous oxide. One of the most difficult chemical equations to 'balance' was in fact the preparation of Nitric Oxide(NO) (not Nitrous N2O) - sorry cant be bothered with subscripts.
It was the reaction of copper with 50% strength Nitric acid (You got different results with weaker or stronger acid) Here goes:-

3Cu + 8HNO3 = 3Cu(NO3)2 + 4H2O + 2NO

But you never actually saw the NO because it immediately oxidises further with oxygen in the air to give brown fumes of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), the latter very poisonous.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-64

Did this in 4a.

Also

Little Jonny's dead and gone
His face you'll see no more.
For what he thought was H20
Was H2SO4

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1952-60

Current location (optional) Lincoln

Joke!Element Name. WOMAN.
Symbol:WO
Atomic Weight:don`t even go there
Physical Properties:Generally round in form.Boils at nothing and may freeze at any time. Melts whenever treated properly.Very bitter if not used well.
Chemical Properties.Very active. Highly unstable.Possesses strong affiniy to gold,silver,platinum,and precious stones. Violent when left alone.Able to absorb great amounts of toxic food. Turns slightly green when placed next to a better specimen.
Usage:Highly ornamental. An extremely good catalyst for dispersion of wealth .Probably the most powerful income-reducing agent known.
Caution:Highly explosive in inexperienced hands.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1959-66

Current location (optional) HAWORTH

JOKE
Element Name:MAN
Symbol: MAN
Atomic Weight:180+/50
Physical Properties:Solid at room temperature,but gets bent out of shape easily.Fairly dense and sometimes flaky.Difficult to find a pure sample.Due to rust,ageing samples and unable to conduct electricity as easily as young samples.
Chemical Properties: Attempts to bond with WO any chance it can get . Also tends to form strong bonds with it.Becomes explosive when mixed with Kid Element:Child- for prolonged period of time.
Neutralize by saturating with alcohol.
Usage:None known.Possibly good methane source. Good samples are able to produce large quantities on command.
Caution:In the absence of WO,this element rapidly decomposes and begins to smell.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1959-66

Current location (optional) HAWORTH