10 Life and Writings of Berzelius. 



of the most beautiful results obtained by the power of his 

 genius. 



In analytical chemistry Berzelius was indefatigable. From 

 the time that Bergmann gave the first idea of exact ana- 

 lysis, many of the learned have engaged in this important 

 branch of chemistry ; but Berzelius' methods excelled all 

 that has been done in accuracy. 



We owe to him the best processes for tlie quantitative 

 separation of different substances ; and he determined the 

 composition of a greater number of natural or artificial com- 

 pounds than any other chemist. Among the most important 

 analytical processes for which science is indebted to him, we 

 may mention the use of hydrofluoric acid in the analysis of 

 siliciferous minerals ; also the use of chlore for the separa- 

 tion of metals. His analyses of diff^erent minerals, of the 

 mineral waters of Bohemia and other localities, cannot be sur- 

 passed in accuracy. Qualitative analysis was likewise greatly 

 improved by his exertions; and the application which he made 

 of the blowpipe has rendered the greatest services to mine- 

 ralogical researches. 



The Swedish chemists, among whom Gahn deserves to be 

 particularly mentioned, have made the most valuable use of the 

 blowpipe as a means of testing minerals. Although at that 

 time scai'cely employed in France, this important instrument 

 became, in the hands of Berzelius, one of the most correct 

 means that could be employed in the analysis of inorganic 

 substances. In a work on this instrument, he has pointed 

 out its utility, and the advantages to be derived from the use 

 of it. (0« the Use of the Blowpipe in Chemical Anali/sis and 

 Mineralogical Determinations. Translated from the Swedish 

 by F. Fresnel. Paris, 1827.) 



It would be impossible, without entering into very minute 

 details, to enumerate even the titles of all Berzelius' Me- 

 moirs : few chemists have published so great a number. 

 Scarcely any substance can be mentioned which he did not 

 make the subject of experiment, and each of his investiga- 

 tions comprehends some new method, or some modification 

 of known processes, which may admit of useful application 

 in science. 



