xvi THE LIFE OF KARL WILHELM SCHEELE 



of Scheele, and it is to the honour and credit of Bergmann, 

 that when Scheele's reputation soared to such a height that it 

 seemed to have a tendency to put his own in the shade, he 

 was actuated by none of that petty jealousy so conspicuous 

 in the case of Sir Humphrey Davy in his relations towards 

 his assistant, the immortal gentle Faraday. Bergmann, on 

 the contrary, is said to have become even more anxious, 

 still more zealous, still more indefatigable on behalf of his 

 young friend. He was magnanimous enough not to look 

 upon him in the light of a rival, but as a friend. He had 

 the interests of science and of truth too much at heart to 

 let his temper be soured and friendship marred by Scheele's 

 brilliant discoveries. 



In 1774, Scheele gave to the world the record of his 

 investigations on the black oxide of manganese, on which he 

 had been engaged for some years. 



In 1775 his memoirs on benzoic and arsenic acids were 

 published. It was in this year that he left Upsala to at 

 last settle down at the small village of Roping on the 

 western extremity of Lake Malar. A pharmacist's shop 

 being vacant there, he applied for it, and is said to have 

 passed a highly successful examination before the medical 

 authorities, and secured the appointment. Scheele soon found, 

 however, that he had been tricked ; instead of a sound going 

 but small business concern, the whole thing was in debt, 

 and its affairs in a perfect muddle. Scheele, however, did not 

 get faint-hearted, he put his shoulder to the wheel. He was 

 a man of business as well as a man of science, and where 

 formerly chaos and debt reigned supreme he soon brought 

 system and order to bear, and prosperity to a certain extent 

 followed as a natural sequence : so much so, that at the 

 end of two years he was able to purchase the business from 

 the relict of the former proprietor. Let us again pause to 



