pt. I. Before 1789 : early errors and early elements -- Terra nobilis -- Siderum and Hydrosiderum -- Sydneium or Australium -- The element that breathes -- The birth of homeopathy -- The elements hidden by alternative names -- Metallum Problematicum or Tellurium -- Ochroite or Cerium -- Ceresium or Palladium -- Erythronium, Panchromium or Vanadium --

pt. II. 1789-1869 : from Lavoisier to Mendeleev : the first errors at the dawn of the concept of the chemical element -- Analytical methodology from Lavoisier to Mendeleev -- Blowpipe analysis -- Qualitative and quantitative analysis -- electrolysis -- Emission spectroscopy -- The elements of the Kingdom of Naples-- Ruprecht and Tondi : two metallurgists without metals -- Playing bingo with five elements-- The extraction procedure of the new metals -- The elements that replaced those of Tondi -- Austrium : one element, two elements, three elements, and finally, zero elements -- The "Austrian element" of a Czech chemist -- A third "split" for Bohuslav Brauner -- The return of the Olympians : Silene, Aridium, Saturnum, Pelopium, Dianium, Neptunium, and Plutonium -- Niccolanum -- André-Marie Ampère -- "Phtore" -- Cadmium -- Vestium -- Crodonium -- Wodanium -- Ptene -- Donarium -- Gahnium, Polinium, and Pluranium -- Aberdonia and the "sweet" map of oblivion -- Donium -- Treenium -- Four misleading elements -- Thalium -- Comesium -- Ouralium -- Idunium -- Two imaginary elements : sulphurium and sulfenium -- Neptunium -- Bythium -- 1799 : the element of Fernandez -- 1852 : the element of Friedrich August Genth -- 1852 : the element of Carl Anton Hjalmar Sjögren -- 1861 : the element of the brothers August and Friedrich Wilhelm Dupré -- 1862 : the element of Charles Frederick Chandler -- 1864 : the elements of William Nylander and Carl Bischoff -- 1869 : the element of Oscar Loew -- 1878 : the elements of William Balthasar Gerland -- 1883 : the element of Theodor Eduard Wilm -- 1897 : the elements of Gethen G. Boucher and F. Ruddock -- 1904 : the radium foil of George Frederick Kunz -- 1908 : the element of Clare de Brereton Evans -- 1913 : the element of H.C. Holtz --

pt. III. 1869-1913 : from the periodic table to Moseley's law : rips and tears in Mendeleev's net -- The forerunners of Celtium and Hafnium : Ostranium, Norium, Jargonium, Nigrium, Euxenium, Asium, and Oceanium -- The discoveries of the rare earths approach their end : Philippium, Element X, Decipium, Mosandrium, Rogerium, and Columbium -- Decipium and the complexity of Didymium -- Lavoesium and Davyum : the rise and fall of two metals with illustrious names -- A residue of work on Platinum : Davyum -- The complex events surrounding two "Scandinavian" metals : Norwegium and Wasium -- Vesbium : an element from the center of the Earth -- The curious case of the triple discovery of Actinium -- Did the search for Neoactinium really delay the discovery of Francium? -- A bridge between the protochemistry of the pharaohs and the Arab world : Masrium -- "Lucium" -- The first "patented" element -- The interventions of Crookes, Fresenius, and Shapleigh -- Didymium -- The splitting of Didymium : Praeseodidymium and Neodidymium -- Glaucodidymium or Glaucodymium -- Claude-Henri Gorceix and Bohuslav Brauner -- Sir William Ramsay -- Anomalous Argon -- Radioactivity and the discovery of Niton -- Krypton II -- Carolinium (and Berzelium) -- Urbain -- Bauxium -- From Monium to Victorium and in pursuit of Ionium and Incognitum -- The element E or X to the second power -- The Meta elements -- The elements of Paul Emile (Franc̜ois) Lecoq de Boisbaudran and of Eugène-Anatole Demarc̜ay -- The Terbium-, Terbium-II, and Terbium-III of Welsbach -- From Canadium to Quebecium -- Pierre Demers --

pt. IV. 1914-1939 : from nuclear classification to the first accelerators : chemists' paradise lost... (and physicists' paradise regained) -- From the eclipse of Aldebaranium and Cassiopeium to the priority conflict between Celtium and Hafnium -- The Rare Earths -- Neo-Celtium -- From the presumed Inert Elements to those lost in the Dead Sea -- The Atomic Theory of James Moir and the Subelements X and Zoïkon -- From England to Prague on the trail of Element Number 75 -- On the banks of the Dead Sea : the first investigations for the identification of Element 87 -- Alkalinium -- Brevium -- Lisonium and Lisottonium -- Radio-Brevium and the missed discovery of nuclear fission -- From Pleochroic haloes to the birth of the Earth -- Radioactivity makes dating of the Earth possible -- Hibernium -- Wolfram -- Molybdenum and Tungsten -- The radioactive element of the Hot Springs -- Moseleyum -- The inorganic evolution of element 61 : Florentium, Illinium, Cyclonium and finally Promethium -- Masurium : an x-ray mystery -- Rhenium and Masurium -- Panormium and Trinacrium -- The ignored and underrated "Chemikerin" and her fission hypothesis -- The twilight of the naturally occurring elements : Moldavium, Sequanium, and Dor -- Eka-Caesium : from Russia to Moldavia, through Virginia -- A digression on x-ray wavelength : precision, units, and conversion factors -- Eka-Rhenium -- Alabamine and Virginium -- Eka-Iodine (Dor) -- Helvetium, Anglo-Helvetium -- Rajendralal De and his twin elements : Gourium and Dakin -- Walter Minder and Helvetium -- Alice Leigh-Smith and Anglo-Helvetium -- C.W. Martin and the "elusive" parentheses of Leptine -- Academic conflicts with Hulubei, Paneth, and Karlik -- Eline -- Verium --

pt. V. 1939-present : beyond uranium, to the stars -- Ausonium and Hesperium, Littorium and Mussolinium -- The island of nuclear stability -- Unfortunate episodes in the attribution of the names of the elements between 101 and 109 -- From atoms to the stars -- The search for primordial superheavy elements -- Names : from A to Zunzenium -- The elements from Neptunium to Mendelevium seen from both sides of the Iron Curtain -- Nobelium -- Lawrencium, Ruteherfordium, Dubnium, and Seaborgium -- Hawkingium and Zunzenium -- Naming the last five arrivals in the great "family of the Transuranium Elements" --

pt. VI. No place for them in the Periodic Table : bizarre elements

Inorganic evolution : from proto-elements to extinct elements

Prime matter, Andronia, and Thelyke

Pantogen

Protyle

Other theories of chemical evolution

The Asteroid Elements

Dazzling traces of false suns

The mirage of the source of stellar energy

Kosmium and Keokosmium

From the nonexistent elements of Mendeleev to the puzzle of the existence of Ether

Coronium and its aftermath

The Geocoronium hypothesis

Etherium : elementary gas or subatomic particle?

Anodium and Cathodium

The exotic Damarium

Asterium

"Occult Elements"

William Harkin's element Zero : Neutronium

A place in the Periodic Table for the element without a nuclear charge

William Draper Harkins

pt. VII. Modern alchemy: the dream to transmute the elements has always been with us

Decomposition of Tungsten into Helium

Transmutations of Mercury into Gold

Transmutations of Silver into Gold

Transmutations of Ores

Biological transmutation

The transmutation of Hydrogen into Helium and Neon

Radiochemistry

Willy Marckwald : the Polonium controversy

Tellurium X

Transmutation of Lead into Mercury

Is cold fusion hot again?

Appendix : chronological finder's guide f or the lost elements.