832 Biographical Sketch of Baro7i E^elcrantx. [MaV, 



Among the mechanical apparatus invented by Edelcrantz for 

 the promotion of experiment in mechanical philosophy, besides 

 the improved Air Pump which we have already mentioned, he 

 has left behind him a description of a new construction of 

 Papin's Digester, to which we have briefly adverted in a former 

 part of this narrative, as having been made by him at Berlin. 

 In this new form the lid is fixed more tightly than can be done 

 either by means of a screw or of a leather covering, the elasti- 

 city of the vapour is accurately measured, and the whole heat 

 required may be applied by a common spirit lamp. Of the 

 other relics of the practical applications of principle, suggested 

 by his genius, we may mention the account of a curious Static 

 Lamp, in which the oil is placed in equihbrium with a small 

 quantity of mercury; — apiece of mechanism which, operating 

 by the compression and expansion of aerial or gaseous bodies, is 

 able to produce a greater degree of artificial cold than any other 

 method can furnish ; — an Areometer, on a more minute scale, 

 and capable of more nice and accurate adjustment than those 

 formerly in use ; and a valuable apparatus for the maintenance 

 of a determinate and equal temperature, during the process of 

 chemically investigating a substance under the action of intense 

 heat. Many of these subjects still occupied his mind as he lay 

 on his last sick bed, and it was from it that he dictated some of 

 those his valuable views regarding science and experiment, 

 which form his last bequest, and which ought to preserve long 

 in his country a fond remembrance of him who has left no 

 family behind him to emulate his fame, or enjoy his title. 



Edelcrantz died at Stockholm on the 15th of March, 1821. 

 He was never married, and his name must be co-existent with 

 his own individual reputation. But that name is surely made 

 more lasting by the merits of him who adorned it, than it could 

 have been by his having his loss bewailed by the fairest number 

 of an affectionate offspring. A man like him must long survive 

 in the dearest recollections of his countrymen, associated in 

 their minds with those comforts which it was his constant object 

 to cherish and promote, and with those studies and pursuits in 

 which it must be the object of the best among them to emulate 

 him : a foundation for a name, surely not less enviable than it is 

 lasting. 



He was a man of delicate constitution, and the age of 67, at 

 which he died, was a period of life fully as advanced as his frame 

 seemed to promise. Temperance and regularity in all his habits, 

 a tranquillity of mind, and a cheerfulness of disposition long 

 preserved to him an uninterrupted period of health which he 

 spent in unwearied activity. The debilitating disease (Hsema- 

 turia) which carried him off, did not make its appearance until 

 the last year of his life. Even within the very arms and 

 embrace of death itself, the mind of Edelcrantz retained its 



