Berzelius und Liebig

Abstract

THIS most interesting, and, for the historian of chemistry, most valuable little book owes its origin to a sentiment akin to that which prompted the publication of the no less interesting and valuable collection of the letters of Liebig and Wöhler. How important the correspondence of Berzelius and Liebig is to him who essays to write the history of the chemistry of the nineteenth century will be obvious from the fact that this exchange of letters occurred during one of the most eventful decades of the century. It began at the period of the epoch-making work of Liebig and Wöhler on the radicle of benzoic acid, and extended over the time when Liebig was devoting himself, with characteristic ardour and enthusiasm, to the study of animal chemistry and to the applications of chemistry to agriculture. Frequent reference, as might have been expected, is made to these and the many other matters which during that time engaged the energies and occupied the thoughts of Liebig at what was the most active and the most fruitful period of his career. Nor was Berzelius less communicative concerning his own work. Nothing, however, is more characteristic of the difference in temperament of the two men than the manner in which each speaks of what he has done, is doing, or means to do. With Berzelius it is nearly always concerning what he has accomplished, seldom of what he is doing, and still more rarely of what he is going to do. The sanguine, ardent character of Liebig is reflected in almost every letter. He is terribly in earnest on the matters of the moment, and full of enthusiasm and confidence concerning the plans of the future. The philosophic calm which pervades every letter of the great Swedish chemist is a source of wonder and envy to his correspondent.

Berzelius und Liebig.

Ihre Briefe von 1831–1845. Mit erläuternden Einschaltungen aus gleichzeitigen Briefen von Liebig und Wöhler. Herausgegeben mit Unterstützung der kgl. bayer. Akademie der Wissenschaften von Justus Carrière. (München und Leipzig: J. F. Lehmann, 1893)