20 Biography of Berzelius. 



Among the products of tho literary activity of Berzelius, I 

 will here only make especial mention of the different editions 

 of his " Lehrbuch der Chemie,'' and his " Jahresberichte 

 ueber die Fortschritte der Physikalischen Wissenschaften/' 

 His other works, the lectures upon Animal Chemistry, and his 

 work on the Blowpipe have already been spoken of. 



The " Lehrbuch der Chemie" first appeared in Swedish. 

 It was translated into German first by Blumhof, then by 

 Blode and Palmstedt, and the later editions were translated 

 by Wohler and Wiggers. It was also translated into other 

 languages, but did not pass through so many editions in any, 

 as in the German, for besides the translations of Blumhof 

 and Blode, five editions have appeared. The last but one, 

 the fourth, consisted, on completion, of ten parts. The fifth 

 and last was commenced by Berzelius in 1842, but was not 

 completed, only five volumes having appeared, certainly very 

 large, each one containing nearly sixty sheets. The inor- 

 ganic chemistry alone is completed. Of the organic part con- 

 tained in the last two volumes, the most important — the ani- 

 mal chemistry — is wanting. 



In this work Berzelius has treated very fully of all the 

 facts appertaining to the science, with a remarkable clearness, 

 perspicuity, and apt illustration. At the same time, every 

 subject is criticised in such an impartial and just manner 

 as can be displayed only by one who stands as high in 

 science as he did. The arrangement which he selected is 

 indeed not a strictly systematic one, which, in a science so 

 imperfect as chemistry, can certainly only be called conve- 

 nient. But especially in the inorganic part, there is still a 

 certain well-founded succession, such that it is very easy to 

 become familiar with the work. Tn the organic part the facts 

 are not arranged according to a strict scientific principle, and 

 a classification adapted for inorganic compounds could not 

 possibly be carried out with organic bodies. For although 

 Berzelius had always declared himself strongly in favour of 

 the application to organic chemistry of what we know of the 

 mode of combination of the elements in inorganic nature, as 

 the clue by which alone we could arrive at a knowledge of 

 organic bodies, still he was compelled to admit, that we were 



