BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF FREDERICK WOHLER. 543 



one who has studied chemistry under the direction of Leopold Gmelin 

 has very little to learn from me ; but, nevertheless, I can not forego 

 the pleasure of making your personal acquaintance, and will therefore 

 cheerfully accept you as the companion of my labors. You can come 

 whenever it is agreeable to you." Armed with this permission, Wohler 

 at once made preparations for the journey. As his means were limited, 

 he decided to take a sailing vessel from Lilbeck, but Avhen he reached 

 that port he found that there was only a small craft in the harbor 

 destined for Stockholm, and that it would be six weeks before she 

 would sail. Of this delay he says, in a sketch furnished to the Berlin 

 Chemical Society in 1875 : " I could hardly have endured the loss of 

 time had I not cultivated the acquaintance of Menge, the Icelandic 

 traveler and genial mineral-dealer, in whose collections I could satisfy 

 my fondness for minerals. I had already made his acquaintance in 

 Frankfort, where I had exchanged specimens with him, and where he 

 on one occasion introduced me to Goethe, who came to buy a fine 

 specimen of copper azurite from Chessy." 



Menge introduced him to Kindt, the principal apothecary in Lii- 

 beck, for whom he formed a lasting friendship, and with whom he 

 resided the last three weeks of his stay in town. To occupy his time 

 while waiting for the ship to take in cargo, Wohler undertook, in 

 company with Kindt, to prepare some potassium according to the 

 method proposed by Brunner. Instead of a wrought-iron retort, they 

 made use of one of the bottles in which mercury is furnished to com- 

 merce, while a bent gun-barrel served as the neck of the retort. He 

 obtained such a rich supply of potassium that he was able to take a 

 large quantity to Sweden, which afterward proved of great importance 

 in Berzelius's experiments on the isolation of silicium, boron, and zir- 

 conium. It was also in Liibeck that Wohler met for the first time 

 Mitscherlich, who was returning from a visit to Berzelius. At last 

 the ship set her sails, and on the 23d of October, 1823, started for 

 Travemiinde, where he took passage on the 25th. After a very stormy 

 passage the vessel dropped anchor at Dalaro, a small port situated on 

 the rocky coast, whence, to avoid a long sea-voyage, he decided to go 

 by land to Stockholm. The officer of the guard who examined his 

 passport, on hearing that he was going to study with Berzelius, de- 

 clined to accept the usual fee, saying he " had too much respect for 

 science and his celebrated countryman to take money from one who, 

 in the pursuit of knowledge, had undertaken so long a journey." 

 Wohler arrived at Stockholm at night, and early the next morning 

 could hardly restrain his impatience to call upon the great master. 



Berzelius had an official residence in the Academy of Sciences, and 

 a medical student, whose acquaintance he had casually made, showed 

 the way. We will let Wohler himself describe his first interview : 

 "With a throbbing heart I stood before Berzelius's door and rang 

 the bell. A well-di*essed, dignified gentleman, with florid and healthy 



