THE 



EDINBURGH NEW 



PHILOSOPHICAL JOUKNAL. 



Biography of Berzelius. By Professor H. Rose of Berlin.* 



On the 7th of August, in the memorable year 1848, died at 

 Stockholm, Berzelius, after long and painful suffering, in his 

 69th year. 



Distinguished men, who, during a long and active career, 

 have enjoyed a great reputation, may have achieved this in 

 various ways. 



When a teacher, by his theoretical and practical instruc- 

 tion, by an overpowering force of convincing eloquence, draws 

 round him a circle of students, whom, by his animating ex- 

 ample, he inspires with enthusiasm for his doctrines, — or 

 when, by an extraordinary talent for illustration, he renders 

 even the most difficult branches of science accessible to the 

 inquiring public, or when, by a talented combination of 

 known facts, he opens the way to the most fruitful ideas, such 

 a man may contribute to the general diffusion of a scientific 

 spirit, and otherwise exercise the most beneficial influence. 

 But when at the end of his career, we examine whether by 

 his removal a void has been left, it will often be found that 

 science would, upon the whole, have preserved the same 

 boundary if he had not laboured for it. It will often be 

 found that his influence upon science, although considerable, 

 has only been indirect. 



* Delivered at the Public Meeting of the Academie der Wissenschaften, in 

 Berlin, on 3d July 1851 ; it will appear in the course of next year in the Me- 

 moirs of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. 



VOL. LIII. NO. CVI. — OCTOBER 1852. 



