326 Biographical Sketch of Baron Edelcrantz. [May, 



As examples of these may be mentioned his Essay on a Steam 

 Guao-e, the purpose of which was to ascertain the elasticity of 

 vapour in steam engines ; * on an economical Method oj healing 

 Apartments ;-\ on a Stove for drifing Grain; on the Bleaching of 

 Linen in Holland; which last treatise was published in the 

 Economical Annals of the Royal Academy of Sciences, 1807, p. 

 102. The description of an Air-pump, into the system of which 

 Edelcrantz introduced the improvement of employing mercury 

 to act as a piston to rarify the air, was inserted in the Journals of 

 Nicholson, Delametherie, and many others printed in foreign 

 countries. 



In the year 1800, he was honoured by being appointed one of 

 the Knights of the Order of the Polar Star. 



In the following year, once more at the special request of 

 Gustavus, conveyed in a royal mandate given at Arboga on the 

 18th Dec. 1801, Edelcrantz undertook a scientific mission, of 

 which the purpose was the same with that which we have 

 already mentioned, but in prosecuting which, his route was on 

 this occasion discretionary. He accordingly travelled through 

 Germany, Holland, France, and England. The leading objects 

 of this journey were to procure information respecting the best 

 mode of distilling spirits from grain, especially as it was prac- 

 tised in Scotland ; % the most advantageous system of funding 

 the debts of the State ; the comparative merits of the foreign 

 processes for the manufacture of iron with those of Sweden ; &c. 

 These were the main objects of his expedition ; but while his 

 attention was of course chiefly occupied with them, a mind like 

 his found time and opportunity in sundry foreign places to make 

 improvements upon the principle or mechanism of various 

 instruments and apparatus. Thus, in Berlin, he invented a new 

 and more perfect construction of Papin's Digester ; in Paris, a 

 Tearing-measure (Slitiiingsmatare) ; S; and there also an improve- 

 ment upon Argand's lamp ; and in England, a safety valve for 

 steam engines, 8tc. 



The conclusion of this journey of Edelcrantz brought home a 

 rich harvest of improvements in art, of discoveries in science, of 

 amelioration in agriculture and manufactures, and of observa- 

 tions containing the seed and embryo of many more inventions 



* Kongl. Vet. Acad. Handl. 1809, p. 128. 



+ K. V. A. Handl. 1812, p. 24, and 159. 



X The result of Edelcrantz's investigations on this subject was to introduce the Scot- 

 tish stills into Sweden. We do not know whether this improvement was or was not in 

 fact carried over in diagrams and descriptions, but certainly the simplest and most efFee- 

 twal mode would have been to take over a few of that numerous body, the practical dis- 

 tillers or smugglers of the hills and glens of Scotland, who have long been famous for 

 the unrivalled excellence of their illicit manufacture. — Trans. 



^ The purpose of which curious instrument would seem to be to estimate the strength 

 of the principle of cohesion among the fibres of various bodies, as cloth, leather, &c. by 

 marking the amount offeree necessary to overcome it, and separate them by tearing. — 

 Tran 



