56 
SCHEELE  AND  HIS  DISCOVERIES. 
taste,  much  like  oil  to  the  touch,  was  nevertheless  not  a  fatty 
body,  beeause  it  is  soluble  both  in  water  and  in  Spirit  of  Wine. 
Exposed  to  a  high  temperature  it  burns,  and  is  distilled  at  the 
same  degree  of  heat  as  Sulphuric  Acid.  This  product  is  not 
crystallizable,  and  does  not  undergo  fermentation.  It  is  need- 
less to  state  that  this  was  Glycerine,  the  name  having  been  cre- 
ated for  it  by  M.  Chevreul.  Since  its  discovery  it  has  become 
most  extensively  applied  in  Pharmacy,  though,  like  Chloroform, 
it  remained  for  some  time  as  a  chemical  curiosity. 
The  last  research  that  we  must  notice  was  an  attempt  to  ob- 
tain Citric  Acid.  Scheele  had  often  been  foiled  in  his  endeav- 
ors to  present  it  in  a  pure  and  crystallizable  state.  He  imagined 
that  the  cause  of  his  failure  was  the  presence  of  a  viscous  matter 
in  expressed  lemon-juice  which  enveloped  it.  He  tried  at  fifst 
to  coagulate  this  matter  by  means  of  Spirit  of  Wine,  but  not 
being  successful  in  obtaining  crystals,  he  imagined  that  the  Acid 
was  masked  by  some  foreign  body,  which  he  attempted  to  sepa- 
rate by  mixing  concentrated  lemon-juice  with  Chalk.  The  fil- 
tered and  washed  precipitate  was  treated  with  Sulphuric  Acid 
diluted  with  ten  parts  of  water.  The  whole  was  boiled  for  some 
minutes,  filtered,  and  concentrated;  on  cooling,  a  crop  of  beau- 
tiful crystals  was  obtained.  Some  of  his  last  researches  were 
on  Acetic  Ether,  Benzoic  Acid  and  on  the  Preparation  of  Prus- 
siate  of  Potash.  Some  is  the  only  fitting  term,  for  his  life  was 
labor,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  any  one  man  ever  crowded 
more  into  so  short  a  life.  Let  it  be  remembered,  to  his  honor, 
that  he  was  simply  a  working  Pharmaceutist,  and  that  he  passed 
nearly  his  whole  life  behind  a  druggist's  counter.  We  must  re- 
collect, says  M.  Cap,  that  Scheele  was  not  a  professional  Chemist, 
a  savant  whose  sole  mission  was  the  advance  of  science,  being 
able  to  give  his  whole  time  and  abilities  to  that  end.  So  far 
from  it,  the  moments  consecrated  to  study  were  never  allowed  to 
interfere  with  the  routine  of  his  occupation.  In  the  midst  of 
the  dry  and  necessary  duties  of  daily  life,  he  had  to  ponder  his 
experiments  and  to  construct  his  simple  apparatus.  His  fortune 
was  too  slender  to  let  him  wander  into  elaborate  experiment, 
added  to  which,  the  character  of  his  mind  forbade  any  but  the 
plainest  and  most  direct  methods  of  investigation.  He  seems  to 
have  thought  intently,  and  then  to  have  manipulated,  for  which 
