86 Mr. Colquhomi on the Life and Writings [Feb. 



to designate the new process. The bleaching liquor was styled 

 iessive de BerlhoUet, or bcrthoUet ; to bleach by means of it was 

 expressed by the verb bertholler; the bleachers were named 

 herthoUeurs ; and berthollerie, bhnchisserie bertho/lienne, berthol- 

 limetre, were successively adopted to express ideas which a 

 knowledge of the root will at once convey. It is somev.hat odd, 

 Descroisilies observes, to find the name of one of the founders 

 of the French methodical nomenclature introduced without cere- 

 mony to form the basis of a whole class of words, in utter con- 

 tempt of all its principles. 



The nature of the advantages thus introduced was truly sur- 

 prising. Persons acquainted only with the modern mode of 

 bleaching are astonished when they are informed, that what is 

 now the work of a few days, was formerly the work of a whole 

 summer ; that what is now done almost within doors, formerly 

 required extensive tracts of meadow ground at present under the 

 plough ; and, finally, that what is now undertaken and accom- 

 phshed at all periods of the year, was then attempted during 

 only half the year, the wintry period being wholly incompatible 

 with the old process. Nay, in this country the inconveniences 

 relieved by the new system were peculiarly great ; for it was by 

 no means uncommon at one time to be at the expense of sending 

 goods all the way to Holland to be subjected to a bleaching pro- 

 cess there, whence they only returned after a heavy outlay, at 

 soonest at the expiration of three or four months. The saving 

 of time and of expense to the individual, — the redeeming of so 

 much land to the country, — and in general the activity which 

 has been given to the rapid circulation of capital in the commu- 

 nity, have altogether been a source of incalculable benefit to the 

 commerce of England, and to the general comfort of mankind. 

 How happy the man of pure disinterested mind who hved to see 

 himself the author of so many blessings! 



Almost every year in the life of Berthollet, after he had 

 arrived at maturity, was productive of a discovery which was 

 either beneficial in extending science, or in promoting some 

 useful art. The series of researches into the nature of chlorine, 

 of which the first fruits were published in 1785, and the apphca- 

 tion of its properties to so many useful purposes which we have 

 just detailed, exerted the repeated efforts of the investigator 

 during a series of years. That however we may preserve some- 

 thing like chronological order, which is not a little difficult 

 where so ?nany new views start up together in the path, and 

 cross each other in their progress to development, let us return 

 to 1788, the year following that in which the leading views of 

 Berthollet on the nature of chlorine were first given to the 

 world. He had not yet completed his fortieth year, and he ren- 

 dered it signal by the pubhcation of two memoirs, the first rela- 

 tive to the combination of metallic oxides with alkalies and lime, 



