1825.] of Claude-Louis Berthollei, 5 



try has produced, have been imbued with their first thirst for 

 science. 



Here the young Berthollet attached himself to the study of 

 amedicine, less, it may be supposed, from any views of interest 

 to be gratified in its pursuit, than from that inclination already 

 powerful, which soon became the master passion of his breast, 

 for the investigation of those sciences which form the basis of 

 the school of Hippocrates. He remained no longer at Turin 

 than just to take the degrees in his profession, after which 

 he proceeded to Paris, as the future theatre of his speculations 

 and pursuits. 



His first appearance in that capital was a singular one, and 

 the first acquaintance he made is a remarkable proof of the open 

 frankness of an honest and independent heart. In that immense 

 city, Berthollet had not one friend ; he had not even a sino-le 

 introduction to any one. But, at that time, it happened, that 

 one of the most distinguished of the medical profession was 

 Tronchin, a native of Geneva ; and the young Savoyard con- 

 ceived that in Paris he might be claimed as more than half a 

 countryman. On this slender ground of introduction he waited 

 upon Tronchin, and quite contrary to what the manners of the 

 times might have led us to expect, his new-made acquaintance, 

 prepossessed at first by his frankness and intelligence, grew 

 gradually more and more attached to him, until intimacy ripened 

 into firm friendship. Nor did this friend content himself with 

 mere professions of regard, but soon, by means of his all-power- 

 ful influence with the Duke of Orleans, Louis, grandfather of the 

 present Duke, and then uncle of the reigning king, he procured 

 for his protege the situation of one of the physicians in ordinary 

 to that prince. In this situation, the independent character of 

 the man, and his attachment to science, appeared. For while 

 others found their way to rank and riches by their assiduity at 

 Court, Berthollet at once and entirely abandoned himself to the 

 prosecution of those studies, which continued to occupy and 

 engross his whole after life. Let us endeavour to accompany 

 him in his researches by detailing the principal discoveries that 

 he made, by stating the various opinions that he maintained, 

 and by describing the chief works that he published, whilst we 

 occasionally survey the state of science in Europe at the era of 

 each. 



The first essays of M. Berthollet, and his first appearance as 

 a philosopher, are so intimately connected with the revolution 

 which the science of chemistry was then undergoing, that it is 

 impossible to understand the one, or to appreciate the other, 

 without a short view of the leading principles of the old and new 

 systems. Nor ought we to forget, when we find our chemist 

 somewhat obstinately wedded even to the absurdities of the old 

 school, the length of time during which it had ruled without 



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