1818.] Sir Torbern Bergman. 32? 



cular approbation. This extraordinary man was a journeyman 

 apothecary, at Upsala, when Bergman got the chemical chair 

 in that University. I have been informed by Assessor Gahn, at 

 Fahlun, who was at Upsala at the time, and who enjoyed the 

 friendship and confidence of both of these great men, that 

 Scheele's first attempt to get acquainted with Bergman consisted 

 in sending him a paper describing the method of procuring pure 

 tartaric acid. This paper was written in German ; and being 

 upon a subject which many ojher persons had before treated 

 unsuccessfully, and coming from a person entirely unknown, and 

 whose appearance did not promise much, Bergman neglected to 

 read it, and of course took no notice whatever of the communi- 

 cation. Scheele was naturally hurt at this negligence, which he 

 so little deserved. He sent the communication to Retzius, who 

 made it known by publishing the process in the Memoirs of the 

 Stockholm Academy. This unfortunate commencement preju- 

 diced Scheele against Bergman, and made him unwilling to 

 renew any correspondence with him. But when the ice was 

 once broken, he became sensible of Bergman's worth, and gra- 

 dually became his intimate friend. The Professor gave him the 

 free use of his laboratory, which, must have been of infinite 

 importance to Scheele while he remained at Upsala. He 

 adopted his opinions, supported them with zeal, and took upon 

 himself the charge of publishing his papers. It is even said by 

 some, though I do not know whether the allegation be well 

 founded, that he procured him a small pension from the Stock- 

 holm Academy to contribute towards the expense of his experi- 

 ments. 



Bergman is by no means remarkable for the precision of his 

 experiments ; indeed, the time for accurate chemical experi- 

 ments, as far as quantities are concerned, had not yet arrived. 

 Bergman and his contemporaries were occupied with the inven- 

 tion of new methods of analysis. The numerical data could not. 

 be expected to be accurate. It is only within these few years, 

 since the discovery of the atomic theory, that accurate chemical 

 experiments have become possible ; and even at present, we 

 have no accurate means of distinguishing between a true chemi- 

 cal compound and a mechanical mixture. Hence the mistakes 

 still so conspicuous in the numerical analyses published by the 

 most accurate chemists of the present day. There is likewise 

 another thing to be taken into consideration before we condemn 

 Bergman for want of accuracy. He wrote so much in so short 

 a time, and all his papers are details of so numerous a train ot 

 experiments, that it does not seem possible, making every 

 allowance for his industry and dexterity, for him to have per- 

 formed the whole of his experiments with his own hands. He 

 must have trusted a good deal to those who had the care of his 

 laboratory. Who these were, we have no means of knowing, 

 though it is obvious that upon their skill and attention, a great 



