THE ALUMNI JOURNAL 53 



at once solved tlie problem, and made soda from salt l)y means of 

 litharge. Did he use the much-needed prize-money for the purpose 



of ? Ssh ! your hand to your ear. ]u-omise not to tell, and I'll 



whisper you a secret : He received not a sou. 



Scheele separated Benzoic Acid from Benzoin by combining it 

 with a salifiable base and precipitating it with an acid. Later 

 Scheele prepared it from urine by the decomposition of Hippuric 

 Acid. When Benzoic Acid is taken into the system, it unites with 

 Glycocine with the elimination of a molecule of water, and is ex- 

 creted as Hippuric Acid. • We have thus an excellent instance 

 of synthesis performed in the marvellous laboratory of the human 

 body, which needs no Friedrich Wohler : 



CHg.NHg HC.NH.CO.C.H^ 

 C^Hg.COOH +1 =1 + HgO 



COOH COOH 



[Benzoic Acid I [Glycocine] [Hippuric Acid] [Water] 



He investigated Arsenic Acid, a colorless crystalline com])ound 

 used in calico-printing. This led to his discovery of Arseniureted 

 Hydrogen. 



By adding a solution of Copper Sulphate to Sodium Arsenite, 

 he obtained the grass-green salt of Cupric Arsenite : 

 CuSO, + Na.HAsO, = 

 [Copper Sulphate] [Sodium Arsenite] 



CuHAsO, + Na.SO, 

 [Copper Arsenite] [Sodium Sulphate] 



This powder is well known as Scheele's green. It is exceedingly 

 poisonous, is used as a pigment, and in the treatment of anaemia, 

 diarrhea, enterocolitis and cholera morbus. 



He made researches into the constitution of clay, quartz and 

 alum. Needless to say, his work on the alums was not nearly so 

 important as Bergmann's. 



He experimented with calculus, an animal concretion formed in 

 various parts of the body, from which he was the first to secure 

 Uric Acid. Human urine contains only a fraction of one per cent, 

 of Uric Acid, but it is the principal nitrogenous constituent of the 

 urine of birds and reptiles. Out of the three pints of urine daily 

 excreted by the average healthy man, from .4 to -8 grams is Uric 

 Acid. , 



In 1777 he published his book, "A Chemical Treatise on Air and 

 Fire." Can the Baltic Sea be put in a tub? Neither can the gist of 

 this great volume be compressed into the space of one little article. 



