JAfe and Writinys of Berzeliiis. 3 



first steps of the greatest chemist of the age on his first 

 entrance into the field of science. Berzelius often referred, 

 in his private conversations, to his first attempts in the labo- 

 ratoi'y of Upsal. He took pleasure in relating that, in order 

 to accustom him to chemical manipulations, Afzelius first 

 gave him sulphate of iron to calcine in a crucible, for the 

 preparation of colcothar. " Any one may do work of this 

 kind," said Berzelius ; " and if this be the way you are to teach 

 me, I may as well stay at home." " A little patience," replied 

 Afzelius ; " your next preparation shall be more difficult." On 

 the next occasion he got cream of tartar to burn, in order to 

 make potass. " I was so disgusted with this," said Berzelius, 

 " that I swore never to ask for any further employment." 

 However, he did not act upon this threat, but continued to 

 frequent the laboratory. At the end of three weeks he was 

 found there daily, although, according to the regulations, he 

 was entitled to be there as a pupil only once a-week. Afze- 

 lius might have sent him away ; yet he permitted him to 

 come frequently, to engage in experiments, and to break not 

 a few of his glasses. What displeased Ekeberg was, that 

 the young Berzelius always carried on his operations in 

 silence, never asking a single question. " I preferred," he 

 said, " to endeavour to instruct myself by reading, medita- 

 ting, and experimenting, rather than question men without 

 experience, who gave me replies, if not evasive, at least very 

 little satisfactory on the subject of phenomena which they 

 had never observed." 



After remaining two years at this University, Berzelius 

 passed his examination in philosophy, and left it in 1798. 

 We find him, the following year, assistant to a doctor who 

 superintended the mineral waters of Medevi. To a mind so 

 powerful as his, nothing could remain unobsei'ved — all must 

 become matter of research ; and it was natural that these 

 mineral waters should attract his attention. He accordingly 

 made a complete analysis of them, which afterwards became 

 the subject of a dissertation published in connection with 

 Ekeberg, his last professor. This work was the first link in 

 that long series of Memoirs which have raised his name to 

 such a high degree of estimation. 



