Biography of Berzelius. 15 
in which, substances could be both ignited and weighed, and by 
the use of which considerably greater accuracy was insured, and 
‘the absorption of moisture as far as possible prevented. The fil- 
ter containing the precipitate was always burnt when possible, and 
the ignited substance weighed together with the ash of the pa- 
per; a saving of time and trouble for which we are indebted to 
Mr. d’Ohsson, who worked in Berzelius’s laboratory. It was on 
this account that a paper was employed which left after combus- 
tion but a very minute quantity of ash, and which was made o 
excellent quality in Sweden, because there are springs there rising 
through granite, the water of which is almost free from fixed sub- 
stances. ‘The general introduction of this Swedish paper, to 
the manufacture of which Berzelius paid great attention, is also 
owing to him. : 
The use of appropriate funnels, &c., as well as an immense 
have contributed to render the results of analyses much more 
exact, and have much simplified the methods themselves. 
Berzelius had moreover—and it is no slight merit—transferred 
chemical investigations in which charcoal fires were not neces- 
sary, from the damp kitchen, or cellar-like cold laboratory, into 
the comfortable dwelling-room. The present generation have 
scarcely an idea of the discomforts which were then connected 
with chemical researches. It certainly required no little scien- 
tific enthusiasm, during the severe winters of our northern cli- 
mate, to remain in a place where there was the greatest absence 
of comfort, and which was even prejudicial to the health. But 
it was at that time thought that a laboratory with a stone floor 
was indispensably necessary even for trifling chemical operations. 
The small caoutchouc tubes, by means of which experiments 
with gases may be so easily and safely conducted, and which, 
indeed, alone render many inquiries possible, were early employed 
by Berzelius in his investigations. Whoever has in former times 
attempted the collection of a gas will remember the unpleasant- 
hess of working with brittle glass tubes, and how easily an experi- 
ment failed from the slightest want of care. It was Berzelius 
who first rendered glass tubes, as it were, flexible, and they could 
then be employed in constructing the most complicated apparatus. 
_ Possessing only the most scanty means, he was led to all these 
improvements by actual necessity. He took advantage of every 
Opportunity to perfect himself in mechanical art. He was master 
of glass-blowing, which he learned from a travelling Italian; he 
was familiar with turning, glass-grinding, and other arts. He 
made the greater part of his own instruments; and notwithstand- 
ing the isolated position of his native country, was thus enabled 
to construct those ingenious forms of apparatus by means of 
Which he so infinitely advanced the study of ch : 
