April*, 1880] 



NATURE 



539 



He published a fine volume on the " Hemiptera-Heter- 

 optera of Holland," finally in a separate form, but 

 originally in the pages of the Tijdschrift voor Entomo- 

 logie, the Transactions of the Dutch Entomological 

 Society, of which he was the leading spirit. Through 

 the same medium he offered a series of biological 

 memoirs on the Dutch Saw-flies, probably unparalleled 

 for completeness. He continued Sepp's " Beschrijvingen 

 en Afbeeldingen van Nederlandsche Ylinders," which 

 remains without an equal. And in the latter decade of 

 his life he produced a remarkable work (now incomplete) 

 on the Ichneumonidse of North-Western Europe, under the 

 title of " Pinacographia." No man was more universally 

 esteemed when living; no man will be more thoroughly 

 missed amongst entomologists. For Holland his loss 

 appears to be irreparable. 



In concluding this notice it should be remarked that all 

 Van Vollenhoven's own works (and those of some other 

 Dutch entomologists) were illustrated by beautiful and 

 faithful drawings from his own pencil. 



A LEAF FROM THE HISTORY OF SWEDISH 

 NATURAL SCIENCE 1 

 II. 

 . C CHEELE was born at Stralsund on the 9th December, 

 •^ 1742, the fifth in order of a numerous family. His 

 father was a merchant of limited means who did not 

 intend to give a learned education to his son Carl 

 YVilhelm, who besides, like Linnaeus and Berzelius, is 

 said in his youth to have shown so little disposition for 

 the common classical school studies that he was in danger 

 of being considered the stupidest among his fellows. The 

 Stralsund gymnasium accordingly was soon exchanged for 

 the post of pupil to the apothecary Bauch at Gothenburg. 

 Here Scheele was not kept very long at senile drudgery 

 and mechanical hand labour ; his attention to his duties and 

 industrious reading of approved chemical authors soon 

 gained him a place in the laboratory itself, where he not 

 only distinguished himself by steady application and 

 special skill in the accurate making-up of the preparations 

 which belonged to the establishment, but also experi- 

 mented in the silence of the night in order to satisfy his 

 curiosity. He had now come to the right school bench, 

 and with an experience led astray by no learned theories 

 for his teacher, he laid the foundation of the chemical 

 views and of that skill in chemical manipulation which 

 were to gain for him so famous a name in the history of 

 the natural sciences. 



After the close of his six years' "apprenticeship Scheele 

 remained three years more at Gothenburg, afier which he 

 was employed in an apothecary's shop at Malmoe. From 

 Malmoe he removed three years after, in 1768, to Stock- 

 holm. According to Wilcke's statement Scheele had by 

 this time made several important discoveries, without 

 however having succeeded in obtaining any direct acknow- 

 ledgment of the accounts of the experiments relating to 

 them which he had communicated to the Swedish Academy 

 of Sciences. He was not, besides, satisfied with the 

 employment he had obtained in the capital at the apothe- 

 cary's shop, " Korpen," because he had nothing to do 

 with the laboratory work proper. He therefore removed 

 in 1770 to Upsala, attracted by the famous name of 

 Bergman, to undertake the charge of the laboratory at 

 one of the large apothecary's establishments there. 



During his stay in Stockholm Scheele had given in to 

 the Academy of Sciences several chemical papers which, 

 after having been submitted to Bergman, were not printed, 

 and it is even supposed that the learned professorof Upsala 

 did not think it worth his while to read the productions 

 of the young, apothecary. At first, therefore, a certain 

 coldness is said to have prevailed between these two men, 

 of whom one was, and the other was soon to be, recognised 



* Translated from a paper by Pr^f. A. E. NordenslcjOId of Stockholm, 

 Continued from p. 521. 



as one of the greatest scientific geniuses of the century. 

 An accident however soon brought them together, and the 

 coolness gave place to a mutual friendship and admiration, 

 of which the writings of both, and numerous letters from 

 Scheele to Bergman, preserved in the Library at Upsala. 

 bear witness. These pleasant relations exerted a great 

 and fruitful influence on the scientific activity of both. 

 The sharp-sighted experimenter and discoverer, Scheele, 

 required the support of Bergman's regard and compre- 

 hensive learning in order to win recognition, and Bergman's 

 organising genius was brought by Scheele's discoveries in 

 contact with new fields of research before untouched by 

 any man of science. 



While residing at Upsala Scheele published (1770-75) 

 some of his most important researches, for instance, on 

 fluor spar, on black oxide of manganese, on arsenious 

 acid, on the composition of the air, &c, and thus gained 

 for himself almost at once a great reputation, not only in 

 Sweden, but also in foreign countries. He was soon after 

 chosen a member of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, 

 in whose circle he took his place on an equal footing 

 with the first men of the realm. From this time the 

 young chemist was honoured by this scientific association 

 in a way that always will form one of its fairest memories, 

 and which under similar circumstances could scarcely 

 have happened to him so early in any other country, — 

 a circumstance which shows that no credit is to be given 

 to the story which has been repeated in several of the 

 sketches of his life, that Scheele was so little known to 

 the leading scientific men of Sweden that] a distinction 

 intended for him by Gustavus III. was by mistake con- 

 ferred upon another person of the same name. On the 

 other hand it may have been true, and if so, it showed 

 the little interest that Gustavus III. and his court enter- 

 tained for Swedish natural research, that the King of 

 Sweden on the 21st March, 1784, while present at a 

 meeting of the Turin Academy of Sciences, for the first 

 time heard the name mentioned of the only person with a 

 truly world-historical name who then lived in Sweden. 

 Little also does he appear to have suspected that in his 

 own capital there was an Academy which, in respect of 

 the influence it exerted on the progress of natural research, 

 occupied a position quite equal to that of any other 

 academy whatever. 



From 1777 Scheele obtained from the Academy an 

 annual grant of 100 rixdollars specie (about 40 guineas), 

 to assist him in carrying on his chemical researches. He 

 was present however at the meetings of the Academy 

 only once, on the 29th October, 1777, when on his 

 admission he read a paper " On a method of preparing 

 Mercurius duleis in the wet way." The day before he 

 had undergone the apothecary's examination at the 

 Medical College, and after taking the oath obtained an 

 open commission empowering him, on the invitation of 

 the magistrates, to be apothecary in the town of Kdping. 



For the longing for an independent sphere of activity 

 had led Scheele in the autumn of 1775 to leave Upsala 

 and remove to Koping, in order as dispenser to take 

 charge of the apothecary's shop there, which belonged 

 to a young childless widow of the former owner. From 

 this time Scheele's life flowed calmly on in this town, 

 uninterrupted by any remarkable occurrences, if we 

 except a passing cloud caused by a buyer presenting 

 himself with an offer to purchase the apothecary's shop 

 of which Scheele had charge. This gave occasion to 

 numerous proofs of friendship and regard for him. Gahn 

 proposed that he should remove to his house ; Bergman 

 offered him a place at his table till some other suitable 

 employment should turn up. Linnasus, Warger.tin, Back, 

 Schultzenheim, Alstromer, and the brothers Bergius of- 

 fered him an apothecary's shop with a suitable laboratory 

 and several advantages at Alingsos. Others wished to 

 instal him as Chemicus renins in the capital and make 

 him director of a new distillery. On D'Alembert's proposal 



