1825.] Biographical Sketch of Baron Edelcrantz. 331 



shall be cleared away, it will become more and more appreciated, 

 and will take yet higher ground in the judgment of the country. 



Such were the numerous and strong proofs which Edelcrantz 

 received of the confidence and esteem of the government, and 

 such was the honourable manner in which he always discharged 

 the duties it imposed upon him. On the 9th May, 1816, he re- 

 ceived the last public expression of regard from the King in 

 being elevated to the rank of Baron, into which he was intro- 

 duced on the 27th Nov. 1816, under No. 356. 



The many services rendered by Baron Edelcrantz to his coun- 

 try are not to be found so much in separate writings or treatises, 

 as in the actual practice or execution of those plans which it was 

 their object to suggest, and which are embodied in the improve- 

 ments and in the general system of the country. They were 

 sometimes brought forward by himself as an individual, but not. 

 unfrequently their merits embraced interests too extensive and 

 momentous, and spoke too plainly for themselves, to allow 

 government to hesitate a moment in adopting and supporting 

 them as their own. Some account of the greater number of 

 them may, however, be found preserved in the Transactions of 

 various Swedish and foreign learned bodies ; and not a few of 

 his proposals and reports have been deposited in the archives of 

 the Court. 



We have already noticed the improvements made by him on 

 the organisation of the Telegraph, so great as to procure for the 

 new instrument the name of Edelcrantz's ; besides this, the 

 principal mechanical inventions of his are as follow : a Steam 

 Engine of a simpler construction than those formerly employed. 

 This machine was applied to numerous purposes ; as in mines to 

 pump off water ; to the Crown Distillery in the capital ; to pro- 

 mote the operations for excavating Telje's Canal, See. With a 

 view to a construction of this engine on a plan still more simpli- 

 fied than this, he has left behind him two different ameliorations 

 of structure, of one of which there is now a model. The next 

 invention we shall notice is his new Drying Stove for all Kinds 

 of Grain, which he brought forward in 1812, and which gained 

 at once for him the unanimous approbation of the Royal Aca- 

 demy of Sciences, and of the Academy of Agriculture. It is 

 constructed so as to give the power of correctly regulating the 

 temperature in such a manner that the germinating power of the 

 seed may be preserved unimpaired ; while at the same time 

 the heat can, when required, be raised as high as 194°, or above 

 that point, so as completely to destroy the weevil. Another 

 signal benefit conferred by Edelcrantz on the manufacturers of 

 Sweden was the introduction among them ofa Spinning Machine, 

 extremely similar in principle and utility to the famous English 

 mechanism, the secret of which is guarded by them with so 

 much jealousy. 



