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M. Fischers Memoir of the Life of Klaproth . 
with him ; the moment these began to occupy him, every other 
interest was hushed, and passed into the back ground. 
The essays which he has given to the public, with a few ex- 
ceptions, contain analyses of inorganic bodies. But it would be 
a mistake to infer from this, that his chemical knowledge was 
of a partial nature. It is quite natural, that a man of excel- 
lent talents should devote himself with a preference to that par- 
ticular field in which his first attempts had been followed by dis- 
tinguished results, — where he had found many weeds to root out, 
much space to be planted anew, and a great deal of uncultivat- 
ed ground to be rendered productive. But he is not likely to 
have accomplished any thing remarkable, even in that depart- 
ment which he had chosen for himself, nor any thing that has a 
relation to the whole science, unless he is thoroughly acquainted 
with all its parts. Every science is a great and intimately con- 
nected whole, no part of which can be cultivated with any im- 
portant results in an isolated state. It is true that a person of 
a peculiar taste, may attach himself to one part of a science 
which, in its entire extent, is unknown to him, and in that single 
department may make many discoveries, as Franklin in electri- 
city, or may make some fine observations, as wais done by 
Gdthe, in regard to colours. But, in such instances, the person 
must be at the greatest loss for proper means of estimating causes, 
both in the material and intellectual w orld, — he must be constantly 
exposed to the danger of mistaking what is insignificant for what is 
important, — what is great for v» hat is superfluous, — truth for error, 
and error for truth; in short, his labours cannot have that com- 
pletely solid result which attended those of Klaproth. Those who 
knew him intimately, are aware that he kept fully up with the pro- 
gress of his age, and that nothing wdiich was important within the 
dominions of his science escaped his notice. But he was not 
satisfied with merely reading and understanding what had been 
done by others ; he repeated every new experiment, to whatever 
department of his science it might belong, to convince himself of 
the correctness of the facts that were announced- How suscep- 
tible he was of the impression of new views, was distinctly seen 
at the time of the antiphlogistic chemistry, w'hen, with the utmost 
alacrity, he overturned his wdiole previous system, the moment 
he was convinced, by a careful repetition of the experiments, of 
