SCIIEELE AND IIIS DISCOVERIES. 
221 
Scheele, to his own great personal hindrance, had never received a single- 
lesson or followed an academical course, and being also little familiar with any 
other language than his own—the German—he often was laboriously engaged 
in preliminary details which a knowledge of contemporary literature would 
have spared him, and he not unfrequently repeated experiments that had already 
been successfully attempted. He was thus forced to be profoundly original. 
M. Dumas, no mean authority, declares :—“ Whenever it is a question of 
facts, Scheele is infallible. Scheele rose to the highest rank he could attain by 
work, experience, and thought, without the aid of any scientific education. 
Whether he could have risen higher, I know not; still, when it is commonly 
said that in order to work for the advance of Science, it is necessary to live in 
the grand University centres and not in the atmosphere of provincial life, we 
cannot help turning our thoughts on Scheele and Keeping.” Still, it must be 
allowed, that Pharmacy came somewhat to his aid. Had he not been a phar¬ 
maceutist his mind would not naturally have been led to the consideration of 
many subjects that came prominently under his notice. Thus, Cream of Tartar 
suggested his first essay on Tartaric Acid, and no sooner had he devised a method 
by which he could isolate this principle, than he applied it to the investigation of 
a great number of other acids and principles analogous. Once on the right track 
of analysis, he studied Benzoin, Gall-Nut, Rhubarb, Orris, Asclepias, Turmeric, 
Ether, Milk, the fatty bodies, Salt of Sorrel, the Salts of Mercury, and many 
objects of Materia Medica. Indeed, he was led to his various discoveries by 
the exigencies of his daily life ; his Pharmacy was the guide to his abstract 
Science. 
The personal history of this great experimenter is almost whimsical in its 
simplicity, even when taking into consideration the plain and unostentatious 
living of the North. Scheele had but one passion—Science; for that he lived, 
and for that he had originally withdrawn himself from the stir and emolu¬ 
ments of city-life, that in its service he might die. It is alpiost impossible 
to match his marvellous devotion to one object, and the sincerity with which 
he despised wealth and honours. The King of Prussia in vain tried to have 
him at Berlin. The English Government offered him a post of distinction and 
£300 a year, both of which he refused. As we might expect, he was of a serious 
disposition, and spoke little. Never in a hurry, yet he was never idle, and he 
invariably pursued one study at a time. 
In 1782 the President of Virly and M. d’Elluyart, a Spanish chemist, went on 
a pilgrimage to make the personal acquaintance of Bergmann and Scheele. After 
having seen Bergmann at Upsal, and from him obtained an introductory letter 
for Scheele, they went to Keeping, found the humble and learned apothecary in 
his shop, adorned with the traditional white apron (revetu clu tablier traditionnel ), 
and busied with his ordinary work. Scheele received them most cordially, but 
kept at his business, and offered no excuse. Pie talked with them on the recent 
progress of Science, of his own researches, and of the discoveries of Bergmann. 
u He is the honour of Sweden,” said Scheele to the two friends, who quite thought 
that he himself might share the compliment. The travellers invited him to 
dinner, but no sooner was it ended than he rose, went back to his laboratory, 
and let them follow at their leisure. 
One last anecdote must not be omitted. The King of Sweden, Gustavus III., 
being on a tour in Italy, was present at a meeting of the Academy at Turin, of 
which Scheele had been elected a foreign member. Much was said of the im¬ 
portant discoveries of the Swedish chemist, and some one asked the King (who 
piqued himself on knowing all the eminent men in his kingdom) how the illus¬ 
trious Scheele was. “ He is very well,” replied the King, who, until that mo¬ 
ment, had never heard his name. On his return to Sweden he hastened to 
gain information of this man, whose fame had penetrated Europe, and who was 
VOL. V. R 
