234 Scientijic Intelligence. [March, 



should not be very successful, may damp the ardour of some 

 person to whom hereafter the science may lie under obligations. 

 Chemistry was nearly losing the unrivalled abilities and industry 

 of Scheele by a piece of carelessness, for I will not call it haugh- 

 tiness, of Bergman. Scheele, a young man whom nobody 

 knew, sent a paper to Bergman, then in the height of his repu- 

 tation, purporting to be a mode of obtaining tartaric acid in a 

 state of purity from tartar. Bergman threw aside the paper 

 without looking at it. Scheele of course was provoked. He 

 withdrew his paper, and sent it to Retzius, who was a Professor 

 at Lund. Had Retzius treated the paper in the same way that 

 Bero-man did, Scheele's name might never have been heard of. 

 But fortunately for the science of chemistry, and for the reputa- 

 tion of Sweden, Retzius sent the paper to the Stockholm 

 Academy, by whom it was published. 



Tliat Count Le Maistre's supposed new prussiates are mere 

 mixtures of prussiate of iron with the different earths, &c. which 

 he employs cannot escape the notice of any one who is acquainted 

 with the action of acids on yellow prussiate of potash. One 

 hundred grains of this salt, when treated with sulphuric acid, 

 deposit 33 grains of pure prussiate of iron. Muriatic acid will 

 probably occasion the same deposit. It is this portion of prus- 

 .siate of iron thus evolved that occasions the blue colour in all 

 the Count's experiments. But what then? Is it not possible that 

 gome of the mixtures which he points out may be useful as pig- 

 ments ? Or may not his views lead to the discovery of some 

 useful pigment ? These were my motives for inserting the paper 

 in question in the Annals of Philosop/ii/, and they seem to me to 

 be perfectly legitimate . !My readers would j udge very erroneously 

 if they were to conclude that I adopt or admit all the views given 

 in the different papers pubhshed in the Annals of Philosophy. 

 The authors alone are responsible for the opinions which they 

 give. If a paper possesses ingenuity, plausibility, or novelty, 

 and if it may have a tendency to excite others to useful researches, 

 I never hesitate to insert it, though it should be contrary to all 

 my own preconceived opinions. — T. 



VII. Geographical Position ofModena. 



In the year 1808 Baron von Zach made a set of observations 

 to determine the latitude and longitude of the Lower Guirlandina, 

 in Modena. He obtained the following results : 



Latitude N 44° 38' 55-^' 



Longitude E. from Ferro 28 34 o9-2 



He found the position of the Lower Asinelli as follows : 



Latitude 44° 29' 45-1'' 



Longitude 29 9-2 



