1814.] Mr. Sckeele. 163 



the phenomenon. Some days after, Galin went back to the same 

 shop to relate the ill success of his endeavours to get an explanation 

 of the phenomenon. Here, instead of the master, he found a 

 young man of a dark complexion behind the counter, who told him 

 that the explanation was easy. Nitric acid, said he, like sulphuric, 

 exists in two states. In the first state it has a stronger affinity for 

 potash than vinegar ; but in the second state it has a weaker. It is 

 converted by a red heat from the first state to the second, and there- 

 fore is driven off by vinegar. 



The young man who gave this luminous explanation was Scheele. 

 Gahn, in consequence, cultivated an acquaintance with him, and 

 continued ever after his most intimate friend, to whom he commu- 

 nicated all his chemical ideas and discoveries. When Gahn pro- 

 posed to introduce him to Bergman, Scheele mentioned his paper 

 on tartaric acid, and felt indignant at the treatment he had received. 

 Gahn had great difficulty in convincing him that the treatment was 

 entirely owing to inadvertence, and not to any bad intention on the 

 part of Bergman. After the reluctance was once overcome on the 

 part of Scheele, these two illustrious chemists became inseparable 

 friends. Bergman adopted all his opinions, published his disco- 

 veries, and even, it is alleged, (though I doubt the accuracy of the 

 statement,) procured him a small annual pension from the Stock- 

 holm Academy, to assist him in prosecuting his experiments. 



In the year 177 ; '> Mr. Scheele, who had been sighing all his life 

 long for an independent situation, and whose views were exceed- 

 ingly moderate, settled as an apothecary in the small town of 

 Koping, at the west end of the lake of Malar, upon which Stock- 

 holm is situated, — a very small place consisting only of a few 

 wooden houses. The apothecaries in Sweden are under the con- 

 trol of the Medical College, who even limit the number that can 

 exist in any one town. Hence it was only in consequence of the 

 death of an apothecary previously settled at Koping that this vacancy 

 occurred, and it was only in consequence of the appointment of the 

 Medical College that Scheele was enabled to fill it. He purchased 

 from the widow of his predecessor the shop and business, in the 

 year 1777 5 but continued to live in the same house with her, and 

 the expences of house-keeping were defrayed by them jointly. 



Here he prosecuted his chemical experiments with his usual 

 ardour ; and, as he could now devote more of his time to them, 

 he added prodigiously to his discoveries ; and his reputation, which 

 had already spread over the whole civilized world, notwithstand- 

 ing the disadvantageous situation in which he stood, increased 

 continually every year, and was placed in a still more conspicuous 

 point of view by the puny and unsuccessful attacks that were occa- 

 sionally made upon him. When he first settled at Koping, his cir- 

 cumstances wen- not such as to enable him to procure a comfortable 

 room for experimenting in ; and as it was out of his power to give 

 up his darling pursuit-, be performed hia experiments in an open 

 place, v, here be was frequently exposed to severe cold. The con- 



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