1822.] 
than chemists had previously been 
aware, what an eflect the vessel often 
has upon the result. Not less impor- 
tant was the extreme care which he 
used in preparing pure re-agents, for 
obtaining which in their most perfect 
state, he invented several efficient 
methods. 
Nor must we pass unnoticed his sci- 
entific manner, both in oral delivery 
and in composition. His language was 
simple and unadorned, but clear, well 
defined, and condensed. He never 
used more words than were absolutely 
necessary for a complete elucidation of 
the matterinhand. Herather pointed 
out than entered into any discursive 
exhibition of the grounds of his opera- 
tions ;—in general, he employed few 
reasonings, and only a simple state- 
ment of the essential circumstances of 
an experiment, and of its conse- 
quences. It was particularly remark- 
able in him, however, that neither in 
his oral. communications, nor. in 
writing, neither in plain words nor by 
hints, did he ever attempt to exalt his 
own discoveries, or to bring them nearer 
either to the eye or the ear of his 
hearers. His pupils never heard from 
his own mouth how much science had 
been indebted to him, so utterly averse 
was he to all vanity, all boasting, and 
all selfishness. In a word, truth and 
science were every thing with him; the 
moment these began to occupy him, 
every other interest was hushed, and 
passed into the back- ground. 
How susceptible he was of the im- 
pression of new views, was distinctly 
seen at the time of the antiphlogistic 
chemistry, when, with the utmost ala- 
erity, he overturned his whole previous 
system, the momenthe was convinced, 
by a careful repetition of the experi- 
ments, of the correctnessof the facts on 
which Lavoisier had founded his new 
doctrines. Even in his advanced 
years, he did not tenaciously adhere to 
his old views. In early life he had 
adopted, like all other chemists, the 
doctrine of aflinities proposed by 
Bergmann, as the foundation of his ex- 
planations, although he took many op- 
portunities of warning those who at- 
tended his lectures respecting its in- 
sufficiency. When Berthollet’s inves- 
tigations respecting the laws of aflinity 
appeared, he completely satisfied him- 
self of the untenable nature of his for- 
mer views; and, although he did not 
think that, in regard to several parti- 
culars, he could assent to the decisions 
Biographical Account of Martin Henry Klaproth. 
25 
of the ingenious French chemists, he 
was yet perfectly satisfied as to the 
correetness of the prineiple on which 
all the investigations of Berthollet pro- 
ceed, namely, that no one power is 
adequate to the explanation of chemi- 
cal phenomena, but that, even in the 
case of the simplest composition or 
resolution, several powers unite their 
energies. He also admitted the ne- 
cessary consequence of this principle, 
namely, that it is impossible to arrive 
at a true scientific theory in chemistry 
in any other way, but by the most 
careful consideration and investigation 
of the laws, according to which the in- 
dividual active powers and circum- 
stances, that is to say, the powers of 
cohesion and of expansion, fluidity, 
gravitation, quantity, heat, light, elec- 
tricity, and so forth, produce their 
eflect.* Klaproth perceived that those 
only who were conducted as by the 
hand by the presiding deity of the ma- 
thematics, could make any considera- 
ble advances in the path which Ber- 
thollet had opened upon; and he was 
hence sorry that his defective educa- 
tion when at school had permitted him 
only to obtain a very superficial ac- 
quaintance with that science, in which, 
with better opportunities, he would 
unquestionably have made considera- 
ble progress, since, even without the 
aid of that science, he had been able 
to appropriate to himself, in a very 
high degree, the exactness and solidity 
of the mathematical talent. 
At an advanced period of life, Klap- 
roth changed his early views in regard 
to many objects, as, for instance, with 
respect to the problematical body, 
named muriatic acid ; with respect to 
the impossibility of decomposing the 
alkalies and earths, and several other 
points ; and by these changes of opi- 
nion, he shewed, that even advanced 
years had not deprived him of the 
power of being sttuck by new views 
and ideas. With so many distin- 
guished scientific claims, it is not to be 
wondered, that all the learned societies 
in Europe, whose object was in any 
way connected with physical science, 
should have reckoned it an honour to 
have the name of so illustrious a man 
in the list of their members. Besides 
* Words without meaning, and powers 
of nature created by the errors of the age ; 
which, in due time, must render obsolete 
the writings of modern chemists.—TRans- 
LATOR, 
the 
