Biography of Berzelius. 197 



commencement of this century there did not exist the most 

 remote knowledge of those methods for the quantitative ele- 

 mentary analysis of organic substances, which have only been 

 subsequently brought to a high state of perfection, especially 

 by the labours of Berzelius himself, and afterwards by those 

 of Liebig. But the investigations in animal chemistry car- 

 ried out at that time by Berzelius, remain as examples for 

 imitation at the present day, and have never been excelled. 

 It is scarcely credible how much the very accurate results 

 of his investigations differ from those which were obtained 

 at the same time by other chemists, 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 inves- 

 tigations from a physiological point of view, was Fourcroy, 

 but his results vary the most widely of all from those of Ber- 

 zelius, since from scattered, uncertain, superficial, and often 

 w-holly incorrect observations, he drew general and extended 

 inferences, although certainly in a very ingenious manner, 

 and by his attractive illustration led the way to the greatest 

 errors. In order to recognise the high superiority of Berze- 

 lius over Fourcroy in this respect, it is only necessary to 

 compare the investigations of the latter upon blood, especially 

 its red colouring matter, with that instituted by Berzelius on 

 the same subject only a short time afterwards. 



Berzelius made known his investigations in animal che- 

 mistry in the form of lectures, the first of which appeared 

 in 1806 ; the second in 1808. Besides this, the most im- 

 portant examinations of separate animal substances ap- 

 peared in the Afhandlingar i Fysik, Kemi och Mineralogi, 

 and in Gehlen's Journal. He gave a masterly review of his 

 labours in animal chemistry, compared with what was pre- 

 viously known on the subject, in a speech delivered upon the 

 occasion of his vacating the presidentship of the Stockholm 

 Academy of Sciences. It is there the custom annually to select 

 from among the members of the Academy, a new president, 

 who, in vacating his office, must deliver a scientific disser- 

 tation, which is printed. This is, indeed, frequently the only 

 means of compelling members to publish their researches. 



