XX THE LIFE OF KARL WTLHELM SCHEELE 



hydrogen is eliminated by the abstraction of chlorine from 

 muriatic acid. So much for the detractors of Scheele's 

 erroneous theories ! 



Let us now glance at the more radical errors of the 

 French school, the chief of whom was Berthollet, the man who 

 was the first to make practical application of Scheele's dis- 

 covery, and, as is usually the case with such men, they pro- 

 pound a theory of their own, so that some at least of the 

 merit, if not all of the original discovery, may descend upon 

 their own mantle. 



Berthollet termed chlorine, oxymuriatic acid, 1 thereby 

 insinuating that it was a compound of oxygen and muriatic 

 acid, and, strange to say, his hypothesis superseded that of 

 Scheele even up to 1811, when at last Sir Humphrey Davy, 

 in a highly important essay on the subject, published in 

 the Philosophical Transactions, not only conclusively demon- 

 strated the errors of the French school of chemists, but 

 revived the old doctrine of Scheele, and established it once 

 and for all on a firm basis by a mass of proofs now regarded 

 as altogether conclusive. But here again we must not be 

 harsh or unjust against Berthollet, who had undoubtedly the 

 distinguished honour of being the first to introduce the 

 bleaching of cotton and linen goods by chlorine on a large 

 scale. As Superintendent of the French Government Dyeing 

 Establishments, he would naturally be the first to see the 

 value of Scheele's discovery, and put it into actual practice. 

 He did not fail to rise to the occasion, let us therefore give 

 credit where credit is due ; moreover, his other numerous 

 discoveries, such as the manufacture of chlorate of potash 

 detonating powder, entitles Berthollet to our highest con- 

 sideration. 



1 Thoso interested in Berthollet's theory will find it described in his Elements 

 of the Art of Dyeing, Ure's Translation, 1826, vol. i. p. 190. 



