Chap. II.] Chemical Philosophi/, 99 



course of liis inquiries, he threw great light on the 

 subject of elective at fractions; enlarged and ex- 

 plained more satisfactorily the tables of affinities ; 

 gave much new and valuable information relative 

 to the constitution of volcanic and other mineral 

 substances ; made a considerable reform in the 

 nomenclature of the science, and accomplished so 

 large an amount of improvement, that he may 

 be justly styled one of the great fathers of che- 

 mistry. Contemponiry with Bergman was his 

 celebrated countryman Scheele, one of the most 

 extraordinary men and distinguished philosophers 

 of the age in which he lived*. He has been justly 



among the greatest men of his age. He was highly distin- 

 guished as a chemist, mineralogist, geometrician, and astronomer. 

 In the two first-mentioned branches of science he was particularly 

 eminent. In the history of chemistry, fev/ names occur more 

 frequently, or are associated Mi th more important services, than 

 his. 



* Chai-les William Scheele was born Dec. 19, 1/42. He was 

 bound an apprentice, when very young, to an apothecary at Got- 

 tenburg, where he first felt the impulse of tliat genius which 

 afterwards made him so conspicuous. He durst not, indeed, de- 

 vote himself openly to chemical experiments ; but he contrived 

 to make himself master of the science by devoting those hours to 

 study which were assigned to him for sleep. He afterwards 

 went to Sweden, and settled as an apothecary at Koping. Here 

 Bergman first found him, saw his merit, and encouraged itj 

 adopted his opinions, defended him with zeal, and took upon 

 himself the charge of publishing his treatises. Encouraged and 

 excited by this magnanimous patronage, the genius of Scheele, 

 though unassisted by education or wealth, burst forth with asto- 

 nishing lustre. To wonderful acuteness, ardour, and persevering 

 diligence in his philosophical investigations, he addcxl singular 

 purity and amiableness of moral and social character. His out- 

 ward appearance, however, was by no means expressive of that 

 great mind which lay concealed, as it were, under a veil. He 

 died in ]786, in the 44tii year of his age. 



II 2 



