BERZE'LIUS, Sw. prom her-tei'll-us, JoiNts JAKOB, Baron (1779-1848). A Swedish chemist. He was born at Westerlosa, in Ostergiitland. When a mere boy he developed a liking for the experimental sciences, and after receiving his general education at the Gymnasium of Linko ping and his professional training in medicine and chemistry at the University of Upsala, he de voted himself specially to investigations in chem istry. In 1802 he went to Stockholm, teaching medicine and chemistry until 1806, when he was appointed lecturer on chemistry in the military academy. In 1807 he became professor of medi cine and pharmacy in Stockholm. Shortly after, he was chosen member of the Stockholm Academy of Sciences, and from 1818 till his death held the office of perpetual secretary of the Academy. The King raised him to the rank of baron; other honors from learned societies were conferred on him: and the directors of the Swedish iron-works, in consideration of the value of his researches in their particitlar branch of industry, bestowed on him a pension for life. In 1838 he was made a member of the Upper Chamber of the Diet, after having served in the Lower; hut he took little part in politics. The field of his activity lay in his laboratory, where he acquired a name of which his country is justly proud. The science of inorganic chemistry rests in a great measure upon the discoveries and views of Berzelius. His multiplied and accurate analyses established the laws of combination on an incontrovertible basis; and to him we owe the system of chemical sym bols. Be discovered the elements selenium, ce rium, and thorium, and first exhibited several elements. including columbium, tantalum, and silicon in the isolated state. The blowpipe in the hands of Berzelius became a powerful instrument for the analysis of inorganic substances. By methods of his own invention he analyzed large classes of compounds and accurately determined the equivalent weights of their chemical elements. Ilis celebrated electrochemical theory was for many years universally considered as explaining the true cause of chemical combination. It had been known since 1803 that, when an electric current is passed through the solution of a salt, the latter is decomposed and two sub stances are produeed—a base and an acid; the former separating at the negative, the latter at the positive pole. This suggested the idea that chemical combination might be due to • electrical attraction. In 1812 Berzelius conse quently advanced a general theory of chemical combination based on the assumption that the atoms of the several elements, as well as certain groups of atoms. are charged with electricity,
some being electro-positive, others electro-nega tive. To hydrogen was assigned a central posi tion among the elements, since by combining with other elements it wis capable of yielding both electro-negative and electro-positive substances; further, the extreme electro-positive position was assigned to the metal potassium, the extreme electro-negative position to the 'non-metal' oxy gen. Different compounds formed by the combi nation of chemical elements were, according to this theory. capable of exercising further electri cal attraction upon one another and therefore of combining into relatively complex substances. Thus, the electro-negative SO, (then called sul phuric acid) could combine with the electro positive group (potassium oxide), to form the salt known as potassium sulphate. Simi larly, the group combined with the group Mg() (magnesium oxide) to form magnesium sulphate. Again, potassium sulphate is more electro-positive than magnesium sulphate, since the metal potassium is more electropositive than the metal magnesium; the two sulphates could, therefore, combine to form potassium-magnesium sulphate. This dualistic electrochemical theory was abandoned in the thirties. However, the the ory of electrolytic dissociation, developed within recent years, may lead to a revival of Berzelius's views, though prohably in a considerably modified form. (See Drssommox.) Berzelius's pub lished works include: Nora Analysis Aquarvm ifederiensium (Upsala. 1809) : Forelliseingar (2 vols., Stockholm, ISOQ-08) ; Of rersigt of jurkcinicns framsteg (Stockholm, 1812) ; Afhandlingar i fysik, kemi och miner alogi (6 vols., Stockholm. 1806-18) Om Ws rorcts anciindandc i kcmien och mineralogice (Stockholm, 1820). His celebrated Liirobok i ke mice was originally puhlished at Stockholm in three volumes (180S-18) : a second edition, in six volumes, was published between 1817 and 1830; the work has been translated into most of the European languages. The multitude and accuracy of Berzelius's researches in every branch of chem ical inquiry make it difficult to conceive how one man could have accomplished so much. Consult: his 'Obituary,' in American Journal of t.,'cience, November. 1848; Louyet, Xotiec sur le vie et les traraux de. J.J. Berzelius (Brussels, 1849) ; and Sliderha um, Berzelius, Werden end Wachsen (Leipzig. 1899).