Biography of Berzelius. z 
this branch of chemistry, and indeed within a short space of time, 
is extraordinary, and opened as it were an entirely new field in 
this science. 
Before Berzelius’s time, animal chemistry was treated nearly in 
the same manner as that of inorganic bodies; the constituents of 
the animal body were arranged in certain classes, ‘and described 
merely as objects of chemical decomposition, perhaps with a few 
general remarks as to their functions in animal life. ‘This mode 
of treatment is, in a scientific point of view, totally valueless, 
Berzelius endeavored to combine anatomical with chemical inves- 
tigations, so as to tend to a common end, in order in this to give 
to experiments a higher scientific connection, and to direct the 
attention of the chemist to the physiological aspect of the 
subject. 
In this spirit he investigated almost all parts of the animal 
body, solids and fluids, certainly only qualitatively, as at the com- 
mencement of this century there did not exist the most remote 
knowledge of those methods for the quantitative elementary 
and solely because their investigations were undertaken from a 
one-sided point of view, and without any high scientific purpose. 
Beside Berzelius, the only chemist of that time who entered 
upon these investigations from a physiological point of view, was 
Fourcroy ; but his results vary the most widely from those of 
Berzelius, since from scattered, uncertain, superficial, and often 
wholly incorrect observations, he drew general and extended in- 
ferences, although certainly in a very ingenious manner, and by 
his attractive illustration led the way to the greatest errors. In 
order to recognize the high superiority of Berzelius over Four- 
croy in this respect, it is only necessary to compare the investiga- 
tions of the latter upon blood, especially its red coloring matter, 
With that instituted by Berzelius on the same subject only a short 
time afterwards. 
rzelius made known his investigations in animal chemistry 
in the form of lectures, the first of which appeared in 1806; the 
second in 1808. Besides this, the most important examinations 
of separate animal substances appeared in the Afhandlingar 4 
Fysik, Kemi och Mineralogi, and in Gehlen’s Journal. He gave 
@ masterly review of his labors in animal chemistry, compared 
with what was previously known on the subject, in a speech de- 
