In 1869, Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev arranged 63 elements by increasing atomic weight in several columns, noting recurring chemical properties across them. It is sometimes said that he played "chemical solitaire" on long train journeys, using cards containing the symbols, atomic weights, and chemical properties of the known elements. Another possibility is that he was inspired in part by the periodicity of the Sanskrit alphabet, which was pointed out to him by his friend and linguist Otto von Böhtlingk. Mendeleev used the trends he saw to suggest that atomic weights of some elements were incorrect, and accordingly changed their placements: for instance, he figured there was no place for a trivalent beryllium with the atomic weight of 14 in his work, and he cut both the atomic weight and valency of beryllium by a third, suggesting it was a divalent element with the atomic weight of 9.4. Mendeleev widely distributed printed broadsheets of the table to various chemists in Russia and abroad. Mendeleev argued in 1869 there were seven types of highest oxides. Mendeleev continued to improve his ordering; in 1870, it gained a tabular shape, and each column was given its own highest oxide, and in 1871, he further developed it and formulated what he termed the "law of periodicity". Some changes also occurred with new revisions, with some elements changing positions.