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XXlV. Adcount of the Life and IVritings 0/ L o t- To R B E It Jl 

 Bergman, Profefpjr of Chemijiry at Upfal, 



X H I S celebrated cliemift, the fon of a co]lci9:or of the 

 king's taxes, was born at Catharinaberg, in Weil Goth- 

 land, on the 9th of March 1755. 'At an early period he 

 fliowed a great deal of fpirit and vivacity, which approached 

 almoft: to giddnief^ ; but, by application to ftudy under a pri- 

 vate tutor and at the fchool of Skara, this youthful fervor 

 gradually fubfided. At the age of 17 he was fent to the 

 univerfity of Upfal, where he firft applied, in confequence of 

 the natural bent of his genius, to mathematics and various 

 branches of philofophyj which he ftudied with unremitting 

 diligence, though one of his relations, under whofe care he 

 had been placed, often reprefented to him that thefe were 

 purfuits not likely to procure him a livelihood. As he was 

 obliged to obtain inllru6tion in thefe fciences merely from 

 books, and ofteii employed whole days in ftudy, fhut up in 

 his chamber from morning till night, his health was confi- 

 derably impaired; and in order that he might reftore it he 

 made a tour to the country to fee his parents, during which 

 he amufed himfelf v^ith the ftudy of natural hiftory. When 

 at the fchool of Skara he had been initiated in botany and 

 entomology, particularly the latter^ to which he applied with 

 fo much zeal that he formed a fyftem of infects according to 

 their ftattj of larva, which was fo well arranged that it could 

 not have beerl confidered as the work of a youth of eighteen* 

 It is to be regretted that his other occupations prevented him 

 from purfuing this fubje(5t further, and that only the clafles 

 of the larvae were engraved and publiflied. De Geer and 

 Linnaeus were both fenfible of the value of his knowledge in 

 this refpe(Sl; and the latter, to fhow his efteem for him, gave 

 the name of Bergman to a fort of phalaena. During this 

 time, however, he did not neg'eft his favourite purfuit, and 

 ftudied Palmquift's algebra, fo difficult to be underftood 

 without afliftance* 

 Vol. IX. Bb At 



PHlt. Mao. No. XXXV. 

 April 1 80 1. 



