If two substances had empirical formulae that were integer multiples of each other – e.g., acetylene (C2H2) and benzene (C6H6) – Berzelius called them "polymeric". See: Jöns Jakob Berzelius (1833) "Isomerie, Unterscheidung von damit analogen Verhältnissen" (Isomeric, distinction from relations analogous to it), Jahres-Bericht über die Fortschitte der physischen Wissenschaften …, 12: 63–67. From page 64: "Um diese Art von Gleichheit in der Zusammensetzung, bei Ungleichheit in den Eigenschaften, bezeichnen zu können, möchte ich für diese Körper die Benennung polymerische (von πολυς mehrere) vorschlagen." (In order to be able to denote this type of similarity in composition [which is accompanied] by differences in properties, I would like to propose the designation "polymeric" (from πολυς, several) for these substances.) Originally published in 1832 in Swedish as: Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1832) "Isomeri, dess distinktion från dermed analoga förhållanden," Årsberättelse om Framstegen i Fysik och Kemi, pages 65–70; the word "polymeriska" appears on page 66.
http://goldbook.iupac.org/M03667.html; accessed ngày 7 tháng 10 năm 2012. Per the IUPAC Gold Book and PAC sources referenced therein, "In many cases, especially for synthetic polymers, a molecule can be regarded as having a high relative molecular mass if the addition or removal of one or a few of the units has a negligible effect on the molecular properties." However, they note that the "statement fails in the case of certain macromolecules for which the properties may be critically dependent on fine details of the molecular structure."
