THE LIFE OF 



KARL WILHELM SCHEELE 



IT has been well remarked that Scheele is one amongst the 

 fortunate but exceptional few, who, of lowly origin, but of 

 the right grit and ability, have by sheer indomitable energy, 

 pluck, and perseverance attained the zenith of scientific 

 eminence, even though they start in the race not only 

 without a single advantage in their favour, but heavily 

 handicapped by the humble surroundings of the domestic world 

 into which they were born and the struggle for existence 

 afterwards. In a druggist's laboratory, with a few medicine 

 phials, some tubes, and such like simple appliances, he made 

 more original discoveries than all the chemists of his time 

 put together. 



Karl Wilhelm Scheele was born on the 19th December 

 1742, at Stralsund, the capital of Pomerania, which, though 

 then included in the kingdom of Sweden, at the present day 

 constitutes part of the German Empire. Scheele's father was 

 a tradesman or merchant in the town of Stralsund, arid the 

 boy-child, who was destined to become one of the most, if not 

 the most, famous chemist the world has ever produced, was 

 the seventh child of such a large family as that of eleven 

 children. He does not appear to have distinguished himself 



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