.- 



KI-APROTH, MARTIN HENRY. 



KLAPROTH, JULIUS HEINRICH YON'. 



711 



puard, and during fire years punned his military studies at Vicuna. 

 In 1847 he was transferred to the twelfth frontier regiment with the 

 rank of lieutenant-colonel At the commencement of the Hungarian 

 revolution in 1818 be offered his services to the Hungarian diet, which 

 were accepted. He wa 6nt lent to gain over the BMkln in Tran- 

 >ylvani, and next sent on active service against the Belgians as 

 captain of the 6th regiment of Honveds. Ha was afterward* sent to 

 Comorn and then to Preaburg, to assist in forming the defences at those 

 place*. He was raised to the rank of General, became chief of the gene- 

 ral staff, and was for a time secreUry-at-war to the Hungarian provi- 

 sional government He displayed great skill and intrepidity throughout 

 the war, but especially distinguished himself by bis defence of Comorn, 

 of which fortress, some time before the termination of the contest, he 

 had been made the commandant. On the 3rd of August 1849 a sally 

 was made at midnight from the fortress. The Austrian investing army 

 was defeated with the loss of 80 pieces of artillery, SOOl) muskets, 

 large stores of ammunition, baggage, provisions, and 2000 head of 

 cattle, all of which were conveyed by the victors into Comoro. The 

 Austrian army was obliged to evacuate Raab, where also abundance 

 of stores were left, and to retreat to Preaburg. By this victory the 

 Austrian line of operations was broken, and the communication of 

 their armies with Austria was in the power of General Klapka and his 

 garrison. Couriers were immediately dispatched to inform Kocsutu 

 and Qdrgei of these evenU, while Klapka was hastening his preparations 

 for following up his successes ; but before the courier reached Gorgei 

 he had capitulated, and the other courier found Kossuth on Turkish 

 territory. On the llth of August Klapka received information of the 

 disastrous state of tbe Hungarian army of the south, and a day or two 

 afterwards a letter arrived from Gorgei, informing him of the sur- 

 render of the Hungarian army, and requiring him to deliver up the 

 fortress of Comorn unconditionally to the Austrians. General Klapka 

 however held the fortress till he obtained honourable conditions from 

 General Haynau. On the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th of Oct. 1849, the Hungarian 

 soldiers, without arms, marched out of the fortress, and every man 

 received a warrant of eafe-conduct to his home. The officers marched 

 out with their sword?. Each of them received a similar warrant of safe- 

 conduct, and was provided with a passport to go where he pleased. 

 General Klapka came first to England, but afterwards went to Geneva. 

 In 1850 he published ' Memoirs of the War of Independence in Hungary,' 

 2 vola, 1'Jiuo, London, translated front the original manuscript by 

 Otto Wenckstern. Soon after the commencement of the war with 

 Russia, he proceeded to the East with the intention of forming an 

 opiuion of the manner of carrying on the contest. He returned before 

 the taking of Scbastopol, and published ' Tho \\';u- in the East from 

 the Year 1858 to July 1855, an Historico-Critical Sketch of the 

 Campaigns on the Danube, in Asia, and in the Crimea, with a Glance 

 at the probable Contingencies of the next Campaign, by General 

 George Klapka, translated from the Original Manuscript by Lieut. -Col. 

 Miilnya'imky,' 12mo, London, 1855. 



KLAPKOTH, MARTIN HENRY, a distinguished analytical che- 

 mist, was born at VVernegerode in Upper Saxony on the 1st of December 

 1743. It was his intention to study theology ; but the severe treat- 

 ment which he met with at school disinclining him to study, he 

 preferred the profession of an apothecary, and he accordingly spent 

 even years in tbe pnblic laboratory at Quedlinburg, where he learnt 

 little else than how to manipulate in pharmaceutical operations. 

 After spending two years in the public laboratory at Hanover, he 

 went to Berlin, and in 1770 went to Danzig, in both which places he 

 was an assistant in a laboratory ; he afterwards returned to Berlin as 

 an assistant to Valentine Rose, one of the most distinguished chemists 

 of the day, and on his death in 1771 he succeeded him, having, at the 

 request of Rose, undertaken the superintendence of his office and the 

 education of his two sons. In 1780 ho underwent the necessary forms 

 and examinations for the profession of an apothecary with great 

 applause. His theaU 'On Phosphorus and Distilled Waters' was 

 printed in the 'Berlin Memoirs' for 1782. 



Klaproth'g various analyses and contributions to chemical science 

 were diffused through periodical publications till 1796, when he began 

 to collect and publish them. This work, under the title of ' Contri- 

 butions to the Chemical Knowledge of Mineral Bodies,' was published 

 in German ; the last and sixth volume appeared in 1815, about a year 

 before tbe death of the author. Besides this work, which contained 

 207 treatise*, he published a 'Chemical Dictionary' jointly with 

 Professor Wolff, ana he superintended a new edition of Gren's 'Manual 

 of Chemistry.' 



To enumerate the various minerals which he analysed by processes 

 perfectly new and peculiar, and with greater accuracy than had ever 

 before been practised, would be tedious ; we may however mention, 

 ai tbe results of these labours, the discovery of the peculiar metal 

 uranium in pechblende, and tbe earth zirconin in the hyacinth ; he also 

 more perfectly detailed the properties of titanium, which had previ- 

 ously been discovered by Gregor in Cornwall, and of tellurium, which 

 had been noticed by Muller as a peculiar metal. There were many 

 minerals which, when Klaproth began their analysis, he found it 

 extremely difficult to render soluble in acids, and without this it was 

 in many cases impossible to arrive at a correct result ; among these 

 bodies was the corundum, or adamantine spar. This substance, though 

 consisting almost entirely of clay or alumina, so long resisted all pre- 



viously known means of analysis, that Klaproth at first regarded It 

 as a peculiar and distinct earth. He found however that by treatment 

 with caustic potash, instead of the carbonate, in a silver crucible, this 

 refractor}- mineral was at length rendered soluble iu acids, and was in 

 fact alumina. Numerous other improvement* were introduced by this 

 laborious and accurate analyst, into the procosses of the chemist ; tha 

 above is not the least important, and has therefore been referred to 

 as a specimen of the value of his contributions to science. The above 

 process was of itself sufficient to alter the faoe of mineralogy, and 

 indeed it is hardly asserting too much when we state that of all analyses 

 previously performed scarcely half a dozen were correct. The great 

 services thus rendered to chemistry and mineralogy were duly appre- 

 ciated ; about 1787 he wa) elected a member of the Royal Academy of 

 Arts ; and tha year following he was chosen a member of the Royal 

 Berlin Academy of Sciences. In 1782, he was made assessor in the 

 Supreme College of Medicine and Health, and he was professor of 

 chemistry in the Royal Mining Institute; he had also other honourable 

 appointments; and in 1811 the King of Prussia added the Order of 

 the Red Eagle of the third class. He died at Berlin on the 1st of 

 January 1817. 



KLAPROTH, JULIUS HEINRICH VON, one of the most eminent 

 Oriental scholars of modern times, was born at Berlin, on the llth of 

 October 1783. He was the sou of the celebrated chemist Klaproth 

 [KLAPROTH, MARTIN H.], who wished to bring him up to his own 

 profession, but the boy was little inclined to it, and employed most of 

 his time on other pursuits unknown to his father. He was about 

 fifteen when, during a public examination of the pupils of the . 

 in Berlin where he received his instruction, he was so backward tliat 

 one of his examiners cried out indignantly, " Why, yon know nothing 

 at all." " Beg your pardon," answered young Klaproth, " I know 

 Chinese." His answer was received with astonishment and distrust, 

 but he immediately gave proofs of his having made great progress in 

 that difficult language, and he became henceforth an object of admira- 

 tion to all who had an opportunity of witnessing his extraordinary 

 talents. He hod learned Chinese secretly without the help of a master, 

 and, according to his own saying, he first began it in 1797, after ho 

 had found out a small and incomplete, but nevertheless valuable 

 collection of Chinese books in the public library at Berlin. His father 

 soon became reconciled to the pursuits of his son, but perceiving that 

 he devoted his time exclusively to Oriental languages, he sent him, in 

 1801, to the University of Halle, with a strict injunction to study the 

 classical languages. 



Klaproth remained several years at Halle, and in 1802 published 

 the first number of his 'Asiatisches Magazin.' The learned Count 

 John Potocki having heard of Klaproth, hastened to make his acquaint- 

 ance, and was so struck with him that he immediately proposed to him 

 to enter the service of tha Emperor Alexander of Russia. Klaproth 

 accepted the proposition, and the count being in grout favour with tha 

 czar, Klaproth was formally invited to settle in Russia. Upon his 

 arrival at St. Petersburg, early in 1805, the Academy of Sciences pre- 

 sented him with a diploma of Adjunctua, for tho Eastern languages 

 and literature, and the Russian government being then engaged with 

 tbe plan of sending an embassy to China, Count Potocki obtained for 

 Klaproth the place of an interpreter. Klaproth actually got his com- 

 mission before the appointment of an ambassador. This honour was 

 finally bestowed upon Count Golowkin, a vain and ambitious man; 

 and Count John Potocki was put at the head of a body of scholars 

 who were to accompany the embassy. Klaproth set out alone, befure 

 the embassy was ready to undertake the journey, and after having 

 traversed the Ural Mountains, and parsed through Katherinenburg, 

 Tobolsk, and Omsk, employing all his time in studying the country 

 and its inhabitants, he finally arrived at Irkutzk, which was the place 

 of meeting for all the members of the embassy. Count Golowkin and 

 his suite arrived soon after him, in October 1 805, and after having 

 been detained some time at Irkutzk and Kiakhta, the embassy crossed 

 the Chinese frontier on the 1st of January 1803. They had scarcely 

 proceeded a hundred and eighty miles when they were again detained, 

 Count Golowkin having refused to submit to tho Chinese court-cere- 

 monial, and after having remained a month in a miserable Mongol town, 

 tho count was informed that the court of Peking did not wish to see 

 him. The embassy consequently returned to St. Petersburg. Klap- 

 roth however did not accompany them, but took a solitary route 

 through Southern Siberia, and only reached the Russian capital in tho 

 beginning of 1807. 



Tho information which he brought back to St. Petersburg was 

 deemed so important, and his own abilities wore so fully acknowledged, 

 that before the end of the year he was sent on a scientific missiou to 

 the Caucasian provinces. He returned from this country in January 

 1809, with a large stock of scientific and political knowledge, most of 

 which afterwards formed the subject of separate works and articles in 

 learned periodicals. The Academy of St. Petersburg chose him an 

 extraordinary member, and the emperor conferred upon him the title 

 of Aulio councillor, and made him a knight of the order of Wladimir, 

 an honour which placed him among the Russian nobility. However 

 Klaproth had expected still greater distinctions, and the 1! 

 government having secretly put a stop to his intended publication of 

 his journey through tho Caucasus, he began to feel uneasy in Russia. 

 He nevertheless prolonged hii sojourn in Russia, and was active in 



