B E R 
tlcular attention to chemiftry, he publilhed a memoir on 
the preparation of alum that aftonilhed his friends as well 
as his adverfaries. Nobody was able to conceive how in 
fo fliort a time he could have made a courfe of experiments 
fo complete, on a fubjeft fo new to him. His dilfertation 
was warmly attacked in the periodical publications, and 
Wallerius himfelf criticifed upon it. But in the midft of 
fo many enemies, he po lie fled a firm friend. The prince 
Guftavus, fince king of Sweden, and then chancellor of 
the univerfity, took cognizance of the affair. After hav- 
ing confulted two perfons, the mod able to give him ad¬ 
vice, and whofe teftimony went in favour of Bergmann, 
he addreffed a memorial, written with his own hand, in 
anfwer to all the grievances alleged againff: the candidate, 
to the confiftory of the univerfity, and to the fenate, who 
confirmed the wilhes of his royal highnefs. Mr. Berg¬ 
mann had now a hard duty to fulfil: he had to fatisfy the 
hopes that were conceived of him; to fill the place of 
Wallerius; and to put envy to filence. He did not follow 
the common track in the ffudy of chemiftry. As he had 
received the leflons of no mailer, he was tainted with the 
prejudices of no fchool. Accuffomed to precifion, and 
having no time to lofe, he applied to experiments without 
paying any attenton to theories : he repeated thofe often 
which he confidered as the moll important and inftrudlive, 
and reduced them to method ; an improvement till then 
unknown. He firft introduced into chemiffry the procefs 
by analyfis, which ought to be applied to every fcience ; 
for there fhottld be but one method of teaching and learn¬ 
ing, as there is but one of judging well. Thefe views 
have been laid down by Mr. Bergmann in an excellent dif- 
courfe, which contains, if we may fay fo, his profeffion 
of faith in what relates to the fciences. It is here that he 
difplays himfelf without difguife to his reader; and here 
it is of importance to ffudy him with attention. The pro¬ 
ductions of volcanoes had never been analyfed, when 
Meffrs. Ferber and Troil brought a rich collection into 
Sweden. At the fight of them Mr. Bergmann conceived 
the defign of inveffigating their nature. He examined firft 
of all the matters lead altered by the fire, and the forms 
of which were ftill to be difeerned : he followed them in 
their changes progreffively; he determined, he imitated, 
their more complicated appearances; he knew the effefts 
which would refult from the mixture and decompofition of 
the faline fubftances which abound fo much in thefe pro- 
dudfions. He difeovered fuch as were formed in the hu¬ 
mid way ; and then in his laboratory he obferved the pro¬ 
cefs of nature; that combat of flames and explofions; 
that chaos in which the elements feem to clalh and to con¬ 
found one another, unfolded themfelves to his view. He 
faw the fire of volcanoes kindled in the midft of pyritical 
combinations, and fea-falt decompofed by clays ; he faw 
fixed air difengaged from calcined calcareous ftones, fpread- 
ing upon the furface of the earth, and filling caverns in 
which flame and animal life are equally extinguilhed ; he 
faw the fulphureous acid thrown out in waves, convert it- 
felf into the vitriolic by mere contaCt with the air; and, 
diftilling through the rocks, form the alum veins of the 
folfatara. He faw the bitumens as they melted ; the in¬ 
flammable and fulphureous airs exhaling; and the waters 
become mineral and impregnated with the fire and vapour 
of thefe ftupendous furnaces, preparing for the beings 
that move and difpute on the cruft of the abyfs, a remedy 
for pain, and a balfam for difeafe. The continual appli¬ 
cation which Mr. Bergmann bellowed on his (Indies hav¬ 
ing affected his health, he was advifed to interrupt them 
if he wifhed to prolong his life: but he found happinefs 
only in ffudy, and-wilhed not to forfeit his title to repu¬ 
tation by a few years more of inactivity and languor. He 
exhaufted his ftrength, and died in the month of June in 
the year 1784. The univerfity of Upfal paid the molt dif- 
tinguifhed honours to his memory ; and the academy of 
Stockholm confecrated to him a medal to perpetuate the 
regret of all the learned in Europe for his lofs. The 
fmaller works of Sir Torbern Bergmann were in part col- 
Vol. II. No. ixo. 
B E R 905 
letted and publifhed inffix oftavo volumes; the firft and 
fecond at Upfal, by himfelf; the third at Leipfic, by pro- 
feff'or Lefke ; the fourth, fifth, and fixth, at the fame 
place, under the* infpeCtion of profeffor Hebenftreit. Ot 
thefe volumes three (viz. 1.2. 4.) have been tranliated and 
and publilhed by Dr. E. Cullen. The whole collection 
comprifes feventy-two ellays on fubjeCts highly interefting 
in chemiftry, phyfics, and natural hiftory. The colledtion 
is ftill very far from being complete ; it does not compre¬ 
hend many articles in which the genius and fagacity ol this 
celebrated man appear to a peculiar advantage. The ca¬ 
talogue of his works given at the end of Peter Janies 
Hjelm’s Gcdacktnife Rede (Commemoratory Oration) before 
the royal Swedifti academy, contains 106 articles; all on 
fubjeCts worthy the attention and inveftigation of the 
learned. The mod important is a Treatile on Phyfical 
Geography publilhed originally in Swedifti in 2 vols. 4to. 
It has been tranliated into German ; and we fpeedily hope 
to fee it in Englifh. The high eftimation in which it is 
held on the continent, is fully evinced by the intention of 
profeffor Hebenftreit to tranllate it into Latin, to promote 
univerfally the knowledge of phyfical geology. 
BERGMAN'NIAN SOCFETY, a modern inftitution, 
fet on foot for the promotion of chemiffry, pharmacy, mi¬ 
neralogy, geology (phyfical geography), and eledlrity. 
Real eminence in thefe fciences are the only means of ad- 
miffion into it. The prefent lift of the members or fel¬ 
lows of the Bergmannian fociety (F. B. S. or S. B. S.) com¬ 
prifes the names of feveral of the molt illuftrious cultiva¬ 
tors of thefe fciences both at home and on ths continent. 
Its utmoft number is 150, of whom fifty may be foreigners. 
The prefident of this fociety is Dr. Henry Hodgfon, of 
Market-Rafen, Lincolnlhire, eleCted on the 16th of Sept. 
1795; by whom communications coinciding with their 
plan, are received, and laid before the fociety. 
BERGO'MUM, anciently a town of the Tranfpadnna, 
built by the Gauls on their incurfions into Italy; now 
Bergamo. 
BERG-OP-ZOOM, a maritime town of Dutch Bra¬ 
bant, fituated on the river Zoom, at its union with the 
Scheldt; firft furrounded by a wall in 1287, by Gerard’de 
Wefemael, firft lord of the town, and erected into a mar- 
quifate by the emperor Charles V. in 1533. The church 
is a beautiful ItruCture, and was made collegiate in 1442. 
This is one of the ftrongeft places belonging to the Dutch, 
having been regularly fortified in 1629, and efteemed near¬ 
ly impregnable: towards Antwerp is a grand half moon, 
extending to a fort called Kyck-in-de-Pot, furnifhed with 
four redoubts, and well mounted with cannon ; by a canal 
which communicates with the Scheldt, fuccours may be 
thrown into the place during a liege : between the town 
and the lea are eleven forts well (upplied, with a number 
of redoubts and pallifadoes : towards Steenberg alfo the 
outworks are very ftrong, with a number of redoubts and 
intrenchments. Berg-op-Zoom had its particular lords 
4 o long fince as the year 1211. After the death of John 
de Glimes, whom the duchefs of Parma fent into Spain, 
and who died in prifon in the year 1567, the marquifate • 
came to Eitel Frederick, prince of Hohenzoliern, of the 
houfe of Brandenburg, by a marriage with Elizabeth de 
Berg, beliefs of the late marquis : with their daughter it 
was received as a marriage portion by Maurice de la Tour 
d’Auvergne, governor and ienechnl of Limofin, &c. This 
prince died in 1707, leaving his fon Conftantine, who quitted 
the fervice of France, and retired to Holland, where he 
was made lieutenant-general of the Dutch forces. la 
1707, he efpoufed Mary Anne, daughter of Philip duke 
of Aremberg and Arfchot, by whom he had one only 
daughter, Mary Henrietta, and died in 171,0, at Douay, 
in the flower of his age. The commander, don I.ouis de 
Requefens, governor of the Netherlands, was defeated 
near this place, on the 29th of January, 1574. The town 
of Middleburg being much preffed by the confederates, 
he equipped a fleet, which he divided to occupy both 
branches of the Scheldt, to fail-towards Zealand. One 
10 X part 
