Re: CCL:Spelling question

["Peter Shenkin" <shenkin.,at,.still3.chem.columbia.edu>]

 On Mar 13,  2:10pm, Jeffrey L. Nauss wrote:
 > Subject: CCL:Spelling question
 >
 > Sorry about the rather mundane question but...
 >
 > We have a minor controversy here.  What is the correct spelling
 > for van der Waals parameters or forces?
 ...
 > 	c. van der Waals parameters (lower case v and no apostrophy)
 His name was "van der Waals".  If one wanted to use the possessive,
 one would refer to "van der Waals' parameters", or, in England,
 "van der Waals's parameters", but certainly not "van der Waal's
 parameters".
 Should the possessive be used?  Probably not.  Looking through
 the index of Levine's "Physical Chemistry", I see "van der Waals
 equation", "van der Waals force", etc., etc.  However, we also
 have "Stokes' law" and "Trouton's rule", so a case can be
 made
 for the possessive, I suppose.
 A case can also be made for "van-der-Waals parameters" (by
 analogy to "The New-York Historical Society", (complex noun
 serving as an adjective) but this would probably be deemed
 pedantic.  Then again, you do have a .edu address....
 	-P.
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