‘ 
Biography of Berzelius. 109 
It is touching to call to mind the words with which he con- 
cluded the preface to the last German edition, which he could not 
quite complete ; it is dated November, 1842. He says, “I cannot 
overlook that, even if the Almighty should grant me life and 
power to complete the edition of which the first part is now pub- 
lished, this will be the last. For this reason, I considered it 
necessary to revise it so thoroughly, that I could express the final 
views which have appeared to me as the most probable daring 
the long space of time in which I was so fortunate as to be able 
to follow with uninterrupted attention the development of the 
science, from the first growth of the antiphlogistic chemistry up 
to the present time—fortunate if, among the many views which 
a future extended experience will alter or correct, at least some 
few may prove to have been rightly conceived. With the pro- 
foundest conviction of the uncertainty of our theoretical views 
as well as of their indispensability, 1 have endeavored, in pre- 
senting them to the reader, not to inspire him with any more firm 
conviction of their accuracy than they appear to me to merit, and I 
have therefore always directed his attention to the uncertainty 
in the selection of modes of explanation. It is a great obstacle 
mitted to any further examination ; and the history of science 
shews that a deeply-rooted belief in theoretical conceptions has 
often withstood the most palpable proofs of their inaccuracy. 
Many of the defenders of Phlogiston required a regular develop- 
ment of the doctrines of oxydation in order to be convinced of its 
truth, and many distinguished men died believing in Phlogiston.” 
An undertaking by no means less gigantic than his “Lehrbuch” 
was the publication of the “Jahresberichte,’’ which appeared reg- 
ularly from the year 1820 until the death of Berzelius. The 
last completed volume comprises the discoveries of the year 1846. 
Berzelius therefore published twenty-seven volumes. 
After Berzelius had been elected, as successor of the botanist, 
of Botany, Zoology, and Astronomy, Mathematics, and 'Tech- 
nology. Berzelius himself uudertook the reports on Physics, 
