Perspectives on the History of Chemistry

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Anders Lennartson

Carl Wilhelm Scheeleand Torbern BergmanThe Science, Lives and Friendshipof Two Pioneers in Chemistry

123

Anders LennartsonGothenburg, Sweden

ISSN 2662-4591 ISSN 2662-4605 (electronic)Perspectives on the History of ChemistryISBN 978-3-030-49193-2 ISBN 978-3-030-49194-9 (eBook)https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49194-9

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or partof the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmissionor information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilarmethodology now known or hereafter developed.The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in thispublication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt fromthe relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in thisbook are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor theauthors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material containedherein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regardto jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AGThe registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Map over southern Sweden with a few places of interest for the reader of this book. Provinces(landskap) are shown in grey. Image: Wikimedia Commons/Anders Lennartson

Nature may be compared not improperly toan immense book, written in an unknownlanguage.

Torbern Bergman 1779

Preface

In order to really understand Scheele, one has to be an experimental chemist. If onecan read about a chemical substance, without feeling an irresistible desire to exploreits properties in the laboratory, one can never fully understand Scheele’s motiva-tions and driving forces. Just like Scheele, I came across out-dated chemistry booksas a boy. I had many magic moments when I managed to get hold of the chemicalsand equipment needed to repeat the experiments form these books. Next, I learnedto design my own simple experiments and to predict their outcome and finally,many years later, I was in the position to perform experiments not previouslydescribed in the literature. Thus, I was introduced to chemistry in a similar fashionas Scheele and I believe I am in a good position to understand him. Unfortunately,the image of Scheele in the literature is quite often misleading, as authors have triedto fit Scheele into contexts where he does not properly belong. In the late nineteenthcentury, for instance, Scheele was turned into a national hero. To be a hero impliesthat someone makes a large sacrifice or takes risks without personal benefits. Thatwould be a false picture of Scheele. Scheele was an outsider in the scientificcommunity; he did not have a plan for a brilliant career, but was completelysatisfied as long as he had free access to a laboratory.

Bergman is easier to grasp as a person since he shares many features withmodern successful scientists. He was very good at selling his ideas, excellent atsecuring support from the right people, and a master in presenting his results. If helived today, he would probably have been very successful in writing proposals forresearch grants. Unlike Scheele, he carefully planned the steps in his career. Thestudy of Bergman still presents some problem: while all of Scheele’s work is in thefield of chemistry, Bergman’s work ranges from celestial bodies to atoms, fromcaterpillars to volcanoes. No modern scientist can cover such a wide field. As achemist, I have focused on Bergman’s chemical research.

In 2015, I published the first extensive biography of Scheele that has beenwritten since the 1930s. The book, Ett kemiskt äventyr—Carl Wilhelm Scheele ochhans värld (A Chemical Adventure—Carl Wilhelm Scheele and his World) waswritten in Swedish and contained chapters on pharmaceutical history written byProfessor Emeritus Björn Lindeke and Bo Ohlson. I divided the book into twoparts; the first part was a biographical part, while the second part discussed each ofScheele’s publications, explaining his results in modern terms. This second part was

ix

adapted to English and published by Springer in 2017 as The Chemical Works ofCarl Wilhelm Scheele. For a more thorough discussion of the scientific aspects ofScheele’s work, the reader is referred to that book. The present book is based onmaterial from my Swedish biography of Scheele, combined with new material onBergman. Scrutinising every detail of Bergman’s and Scheele’s lives and researchcould easily have taken decades and filled several volumes. Instead, I have tried tokeep the page numbers down in order to create a book that can be read rather usedas a reference volume only.

As a chemist, I have approached Bergman and Scheele in a different way than ahistorian would have done. I have spent much more time in the laboratory repeatingcrucial experiments than I have spent in archives. As a chemist, it is the publishedresults and their interpretation that is most interesting for me, and I assume, mostother chemists. The aim of this book is to explain the history of Bergman andScheele to scientists, but I also hope the book will be usefull for historians whowant to understand the science of Bergman and Scheele. No more than basicchemical knowledge is required in order to understand the text, and no previousknowledge of eighteenth-century chemistry or Swedish history is assumed.

In order to make the text understandable to a modern reader, modern chemicalnomenclature and terminology has been applied throughout the text. I clearlyremember my struggle when I first read a book on the history of chemistry and hadto try to figure out the meaning of terms such as “muriatic acid” from the context.The reader must however keep in mind that terms such as oxidation were unknownin the eighteenth century. The original works by Bergman and Scheele used amixture of old traditional Swedish (or German) and Latin nomenclature. To give thereader a flavour of the nomenclature they used, I have often added the original Latinnames, or the closest possible English eighteenth-century equivalents of theSwedish and German names, in parenthesis. Quotations have, as long as possible,been taken from eighteenth-century translations, where such exist. Explanations ofterms and chemical names within quotations have been added in brackets [ ].

Although there are many excellent texts (see Appendix C) on many differentaspects of Bergman’s and Scheele’s lives and scientific contributions, most of theliterature has been available in Swedish and German only. It is my hope that I havefilled a gap in the literature by writing this book.

Last, but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Andreas Furängen,former CEO of the Swedish Pharmaceutical Society for support and interestingdiscussions, Prof. Em. Björn Lindeke and Bo Ohlson for their extensive knowledgeof pharmaceutical history, Prof. Seth Rasmussen for many valuable comments,Dr. Petra Rönnholm for beautiful photos, and my wife for endless patience.

Göteborg, Sweden Anders Lennartson

x Preface

Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.1 Sweden in the Eighteenth Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.2 Science: Linnaeus and Klingenstierna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51.3 The Phlogiston Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2 Bergman and Scheele: Childhoods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112.1 Grammar School in Skara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132.2 Scheele’s Childhood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162.3 Scheele’s Brothers and Sisters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

3 The Two Men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253.1 Wilhelm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253.2 Torbern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273.3 Portraits of Bergman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293.4 Portraits of Scheele . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

4 Bergman’s and Scheele’s Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454.1 Bergman’s Education in Uppsala . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454.2 Scheele’s Education in Gothenburg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

5 Bergman’s Early Scientific Career . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575.1 Astronomical Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585.2 Bergman’s Research on Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615.3 Bergman’s Research in Entomology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

6 Bergman, Scheele and the Royal Academy of Sciences . . . . . . . . . . 736.1 Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736.2 The Academy Secretary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

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6.3 Bergman Becomes a Member of the Royal Academyof Sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

7 Bergman’s Geological Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 837.1 The Cosmographic Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 857.2 Physical Description of the Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 867.3 Geysers and Volcanoes on Iceland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

8 Scheele in Malmö . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 998.1 Anders Jahan Retzius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1008.2 Scheele’s First Discoveries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

9 Bergman Becomes a Chemist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1099.1 Wallerius—The First Chemistry Professor in Sweden . . . . . . . . 1139.2 Bergman’s First Chemical Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1189.3 Bergman is Appointed Professor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1219.4 Bergman’s Laboratory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1269.5 Bergman’s Early Chemical Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1319.6 Bergman’s Relations with Wallerius and von Engeström . . . . . . 1349.7 Bergman’s European Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

10 Scheele Moves to Stockholm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15310.1 Scheele’s Research in Stockholm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

11 Bergman as a Teacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15911.1 Bergman’s Edition of the Chemical Lectures

of H.T. Scheffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15911.2 Instructions to the Lectures on the Nature

and Benefit of Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16611.3 Bergman’s Lectures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17011.4 Bergman’s Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

11.4.1 Matthias Rydell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17211.4.2 Gustaf Swedelius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17211.4.3 Carl Anders Plomgren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17311.4.4 Pehr Dubb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17311.4.5 Carl Henrik Wertmüller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17511.4.6 Johan Adolf Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17611.4.7 Peter Jacob Hjelm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17611.4.8 Johan Afzelius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17711.4.9 Carl Norell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

xii Contents

11.4.10 Andreas Pihl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17811.4.11 Anders Schedin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17811.4.12 Johan Peter Scharenberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17811.4.13 Bengt Reinhold Geijer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17811.4.14 Jacob Paulin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17911.4.15 König Alexander Grönlund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18011.4.16 Per Castorin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18011.4.17 Andreas Niclas Tunborg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18011.4.18 Johan Gadolin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18011.4.19 Pehr von Afzelius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18211.4.20 Carl Didrik Hierta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18311.4.21 Carl Gustaf Robsahm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18411.4.22 Fredrik Wilhelm Mannercrantz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

12 Bergman’s Life as Professor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18912.1 Contributions to Prize Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19012.2 Bergman’s Study of Bees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19012.3 Bergman’s Marriage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

13 Scheele in Uppsala . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19313.1 Scheele Befriends Johan Gottlieb Gahn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19413.2 The Collaboration of Scheele and Gahn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19713.3 Scheele Meets Bergman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19913.4 Scheele’s First Papers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19913.5 Scheele Elected a Member of the Royal Swedish

Academy of Sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20013.6 Prince Heinrich’s Visit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

14 New Mineral Acids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20314.1 Hydrofluoric Acid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20314.2 Arsenic Acid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20614.3 Prussian Blue and Hydrocyanic Acid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

15 New Metals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21315.1 The Investigation of Pyrolusite: The Discovery

of Manganese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21315.2 The Discoveries of Chlorine and Barium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21515.3 The Isolation of Metallic Manganese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21715.4 The Discovery of Molybdenum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21915.5 Isolation of Tungstic Acid and the Discovery of Tungsten . . . . 22215.6 Establishing Platinum, Cobalt, Nickel and Manganese

as Unique Metals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

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15.7 Cerium—A Missed Opportunity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22515.8 Bergman and the Discovery of Tellurium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22615.9 Hydrosiderum—The Metal that did not Exist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

16 The Invitation to Berlin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

17 Bergman and the Chemistry of Mineral Waters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23517.1 Medevi—The First Swedish Spa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23617.2 Bergman’s Interest in Mineral Waters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23617.3 Bergman’s Early Work on Mineral Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23717.4 Bergman’s Paper on Bitter-, Selzer-, Spa- and Pyrmont

Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23917.5 Hot Spa Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24117.6 The Water of Medevi and Loka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24217.7 Mineral Water Analysis in Sweden After Bergman . . . . . . . . . . 242References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

18 Research on Carbon Dioxide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24518.1 Scheele and the Acidic Properties of Carbon Dioxide . . . . . . . . 24618.2 Scheele’s Later Views on Carbon Dioxide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24718.3 Bergman and the Aerial Acid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

19 Scheele in Köping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25319.1 The Ekelin Incident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25519.2 Scheele’s Life in Köping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25619.3 Foreign Guests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25919.4 Scheele’s Stockholm Visit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26119.5 Bergman’s Lecture on the Progress in Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . 263References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

20 Bergman’s Work on Elective Attractions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26720.1 Bergman’s Essay on Elective Attractions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27220.2 Bergman’s Representation of Chemical Reactions

with Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

21 The Discovery of Oxygen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27721.1 Scheele’s Discovery of Oxygen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27721.2 Priestley’s Discovery of Oxygen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28121.3 Scheele’s Book on Air and Fire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28321.4 New Editions and Translations of Scheele’s Book . . . . . . . . . . 28821.5 Scheele’s and Bergman’s Views on Oxygen,

Heat and Phlogiston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

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21.6 Priestley’s Theories of Oxygen and Combustion . . . . . . . . . . . . 29421.7 The Discovery of Nitrogen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29521.8 Lavoisier and the Chemical Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

22 Bergman’s and Scheele’s Theories of Elements and Atoms . . . . . . . 30122.1 Scheele’s Views on Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30122.2 Bergman’s Views on Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30222.3 Bergman’s and Scheele’s Views on Atoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30422.4 Scheele’s and Bergman’s Views on the Earths,

Metals, Acids and Alkalis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30522.5 Phlogiston Content of Metals—Determination of Equivalent

Weights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

23 Bergman as an Analytical Chemist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31123.1 Chemistry in Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31123.2 Quantitative Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31323.3 Water Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31523.4 Mineral Analysis in Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31823.5 Bergman and the Blow-Pipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32423.6 Analytical Chemistry After Bergman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328

24 Scheele’s Contribution to Organic Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33124.1 Oxalic Acid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33124.2 Uric Acid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33324.3 The Investigation of Milk: Lactic and Mucic Acid . . . . . . . . . . 33424.4 Citric Acid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33524.5 Malic Acid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33624.6 Gallic Acid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33724.7 The Discovery of Glycerol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33824.8 Esterification and Catalysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

25 Bergman’s Contributions to Mineralogy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34325.1 Semi-precious Stones and Gems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34325.2 Tin Sulphide Minerals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34425.3 Mineralogial Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34425.4 Mineralogical Dissertations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34525.5 Outline of Mineralogy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34625.6 Thoughts on a Natural System of Mineralogy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34725.7 Crystallography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

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26 Bergman’s Contribution to Chemical Nomenclature . . . . . . . . . . . . 35526.1 Macquer’s Criticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35526.2 The Reform of Nomenclature in Botany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35626.3 Bergman’s Early Thoughts on Nomenclature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35726.4 Bergman’s Work on Nomenclature in 1775 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35726.5 Bergman’s “Investigation of Truth” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35926.6 The Nomenclature in Bergman’s Sciagraphia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35926.7 The Contributions of de Morveau 1780–1782 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36026.8 Bergman’s Revised Nomenclature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36126.9 The Development of Nomenclature

After the Death of Bergman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364

27 Scheele’s and Bergman’s Contributions to PharmaceuticalChemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36727.1 Benzoic Acid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36827.2 Mercurius Dulcis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36827.3 Emetic Tartar and Pulvis Algerothi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36927.4 A New Method for Preparing Magnesia alba . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37027.5 Other Works by Scheele Related to Medicine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

28 The End of the Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37528.1 Bergman’s Illness and Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37528.2 Bergman’s Funeral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37728.3 Bergman’s Manuscripts and Collections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37928.4 Bergman’s Successor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37928.5 Scheele’s Illness and Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38028.6 Scheele’s Funeral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38128.7 Scheele’s Manuscripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38328.8 How We Remember Bergman and Scheele . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

Appendix A: A Bibliography of Torbern Bergman’s PublishedWorks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

Appendix B: A Bibliography of Scheele’s Published Works . . . . . . . . . . 409

Appendix C: The Swedish Currency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

Appendix D: Literature on Bergman and Scheele . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

Index of Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

Subject Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

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