To the Editor — The concept of font was not something that required consideration in the earliest alchemical manuscripts, as these were handwritten. A certain Herr Gutenberg, however, paved the way for the development of fonts, and we are now awash with them.Sadly, more and more journals are now choosing to utilize sans serif fonts. Because the most important purpose of writing is clear and unambiguous communication, I have some reservations regarding this. And the reasons for my disapproval can be found on the Periodic Table. Looking at all 118 elemental symbols, there are some where the distinction between their representations in serif and sans serif fonts is crucial; these are Al, Cl, In, I, Ir, Tl, and Fl. For example, Fig. 1c depicts the chemical formula of aluminium iodide in Times New Roman and Arial fonts; the former shows an obvious difference between the ‘l’ of Al and the ‘I’ of I, thanks to their respective distinguishing serifs, but the latter does not — the ‘l’ and ‘I’ now appear essentially identical, save for a tiny difference in widths.
