6 Life and Writings of Berzelius. 



for thirty years : he could then follow his scientific re- 

 searches without interruption, and he devoted almost his 

 whole time to them. About this time Berzelius married ; 

 and, on the day of his nuptials, King Charles-Jean wrote to 

 him a letter with his own hand, announcing that he had no- 

 minated him baron {Freiherr), and stating, among other 

 things, " That Sweden and the world were the debtors of a 

 man whose entii'e life had been devoted to works as useful to 

 all as they were glorious to his native country." The direc- 

 tors of the iron-works of Sweden gave him a pension, in ac- 

 knowledgment of the eminent services he had rendered to 

 their branch of industry. In 1843, Berzelius had performed 

 for a quarter of a century the duties of perpetual secretary 

 to the Academy of Sciences. On this occasion, the members 

 of the Society assembled at a banqviet at which the Prince- 

 Royal presided ; in proposing the health of the philosopher, 

 the prince expressed to him his personal gratitude for the 

 instruction he had given him in his youth. From this period 

 till his death, Berzelius occupied himself continually, and with 

 his usual patience, with those varied researches which his 

 sagacious mind and active imagination constantly suggested 

 to him. His life flowed on in an equal current, and death 

 approached with slow steps, as a messenger who regretted 

 his errand. He was first seized with paralysis of the lower 

 extremities, and knew that his end was approaching ; but 

 nothing could disturb the serenity of his powerful mind : 

 he hastened to complete his earthly labours, and like a tra- 

 veller whose toil is over, and who has I'eached the term of 

 repose, he slept the sleep of the just, calm and tranquil as he 

 had lived. Berzelius died on the 1st August 1848. 



Such, in a few words, was the life of a man whose history 

 henceforth belongs to that of chemistry, with which it is in- 

 separably connected ; and who, during the long pei'iod of half 

 a century, constantly wrought with undiminished ardour, in 

 increasing the intellectual treasure which the generations 

 passing away bequeath to those that follow. 



We have roughly sketched the career of this illustrious 

 man ; Ave may now be permitted to dwell, for a few minutes, 



