1768. The plan included the addition of a second floor, which Wallerius had only
dreamt of. The laboratory, located on the ground floor, was the first part of the
building to be finished. The most striking difference between Bergman’s laboratory
compared to that of Wallerius (Fig. 9.5), was that the lecture hall was removed and
lectures were instead given in the laboratory.
Bergman’s chemical laboratory (Figs. 9.11, 9.12, 9.13 and 9.14), Laboratorium
chemicum, was a white stone building surrounded by gardens. On entering the
building through the main entrance, there was an entrance hall with stairs to the
second floor, where Bergman lived (Fig. 9.13). To the left (Wallerius’ former
apartment) was a kitchen and to the right the combined laboratory and lecture hall.
The laboratory part of the room had a stone floor [79] and was equipped with
different furnaces and heating baths [80]. Next to the laboratory, there was a small
room for glassware and instruments. The acute lack of instruments was solved by
purchasing the collection of the late professor of medicine, Samuel Aurivillius
(1721–1767) [81]. From Bergman’s correspondence with his former student, Johan
Gottlieb Gahn in 1770, it is apparent that he had asked Gahn to make inquiries on
glassware, porcelain and thermometers in Stockholm. Another door in the laboratory led to a small room for tools and materials. This room also had a back door.
Near this backdoor was the storage for charcoal.
16 A gallery stretched along almost
the entire backside of the building towards the river. Here, Bergman displayed the
mineral collection, to which he added his own collection, doubling the number of
specimens [76]. Doublets were sent to colleges in exchange for new samples. The
collection eventually consisted of 7,888 specimens [82]. Bergman organised the
collection based on chemical composition and perhaps it was the organisation of the
mineral collection that inspired his revised mineralogical classification (Sect. 25.7).
At each end of the gallery, there was a small room. One housed a smaller mineral
collection with Swedish minerals arranged geographically; this collection amounted
to 3,420 specimens [82]. Here, a student could see which minerals and rocks he
could expect to find in different Swedish mines [76]. In the other room on the other
side of the gallery, there was a collection of 35 painted wood models [82]. Here,
students could study scale models of gold refining in Ädelfors, blast furnaces for
iron production, the brass works at Skultuna, the facility for copper refining in
Falun, and so on [76]. All models were made in the same scale and painted;
Bergman had to pay for these models with his private money [83]. Here was also a
cupboard with “remarkable” products prepared in the laboratory and various
crystals. The new laboratory left the retired Wallerius unimpressed [84]. He accused
Bergman of prioritising his own comfort rather than science [85]. This was because
Bergman used the entire upper floor as his private apartment. Wallerius feared that
the mineral collection would be damaged by water from the river which frequently
flooded in spring. This was actually a problem; in March 1780, Bergman wrote to
Scheele: “Last night the river rose up so that I am now completely locked in. The
laboratory building stands like in a lake”.
16
This shed is apparently omitted on the engravings in Figs. 9.11 and 9.14.
128
9 Bergman Becomes a Chemist
dreamt of. The laboratory, located on the ground floor, was the first part of the
building to be finished. The most striking difference between Bergman’s laboratory
compared to that of Wallerius (Fig. 9.5), was that the lecture hall was removed and
lectures were instead given in the laboratory.
Bergman’s chemical laboratory (Figs. 9.11, 9.12, 9.13 and 9.14), Laboratorium
chemicum, was a white stone building surrounded by gardens. On entering the
building through the main entrance, there was an entrance hall with stairs to the
second floor, where Bergman lived (Fig. 9.13). To the left (Wallerius’ former
apartment) was a kitchen and to the right the combined laboratory and lecture hall.
The laboratory part of the room had a stone floor [79] and was equipped with
different furnaces and heating baths [80]. Next to the laboratory, there was a small
room for glassware and instruments. The acute lack of instruments was solved by
purchasing the collection of the late professor of medicine, Samuel Aurivillius
(1721–1767) [81]. From Bergman’s correspondence with his former student, Johan
Gottlieb Gahn in 1770, it is apparent that he had asked Gahn to make inquiries on
glassware, porcelain and thermometers in Stockholm. Another door in the laboratory led to a small room for tools and materials. This room also had a back door.
Near this backdoor was the storage for charcoal.
16 A gallery stretched along almost
the entire backside of the building towards the river. Here, Bergman displayed the
mineral collection, to which he added his own collection, doubling the number of
specimens [76]. Doublets were sent to colleges in exchange for new samples. The
collection eventually consisted of 7,888 specimens [82]. Bergman organised the
collection based on chemical composition and perhaps it was the organisation of the
mineral collection that inspired his revised mineralogical classification (Sect. 25.7).
At each end of the gallery, there was a small room. One housed a smaller mineral
collection with Swedish minerals arranged geographically; this collection amounted
to 3,420 specimens [82]. Here, a student could see which minerals and rocks he
could expect to find in different Swedish mines [76]. In the other room on the other
side of the gallery, there was a collection of 35 painted wood models [82]. Here,
students could study scale models of gold refining in Ädelfors, blast furnaces for
iron production, the brass works at Skultuna, the facility for copper refining in
Falun, and so on [76]. All models were made in the same scale and painted;
Bergman had to pay for these models with his private money [83]. Here was also a
cupboard with “remarkable” products prepared in the laboratory and various
crystals. The new laboratory left the retired Wallerius unimpressed [84]. He accused
Bergman of prioritising his own comfort rather than science [85]. This was because
Bergman used the entire upper floor as his private apartment. Wallerius feared that
the mineral collection would be damaged by water from the river which frequently
flooded in spring. This was actually a problem; in March 1780, Bergman wrote to
Scheele: “Last night the river rose up so that I am now completely locked in. The
laboratory building stands like in a lake”.
16
This shed is apparently omitted on the engravings in Figs. 9.11 and 9.14.
128
9 Bergman Becomes a Chemist