While in Stockholm, Scheele made a new attempt to publish a paper in the
Transactions of Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. A paper called “Chemical
findings on Sal acetocellae etc.” was read in the Academy on August 17, 1768, but
was rejected on November 9 on the recommendation by Bergman, who found no
novelty in the paper [13]. The manuscript is not preserved, and its contents are not
known. Sal acetocellae is potassium hydrogen oxalate, but the paper cannot have
described the isolation of oxalic acid, since Scheele wrote in a letter to Hjelm dated
November 1780 that he had yet not prepared that acid. It has been indicated by
Gahn, Bäck and Ehrhart that Scheele made a third unsuccessful attempt to send a
manuscript to the Transactions of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and this
paper is supposed to have reported the isolation of tartaric acid. If so, the paper on
tartaric acid by Retzius, who had a far stronger position than Scheele, may have
been a way to help Scheele to establish himself as a chemist, rather than a way to
take credit of Scheele’s research, which has occasionally been suggested.
References
1. Nordholm U, Härdelius M (1974) Apoteket Korpen Gamla stan 300 år, Stockholm
2. Lindeke B, Yue Q-Y (2000) Ett kinesiskt apotek in: Ostindiska kompaniet – Affärer och
föremål, Gothenburg, p 217
3. Ersgård H (1982) Apoteket Fläkta Örn i Malmö tiden 1731–1820. Sv Farm Tidskr 86:28
4. Boëthius B (1927), Abraham Bäck, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon vol 7, Stockholm, p 71
5. Fries RE, Hult OT (1922), Peter Jonas Bergius, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon vol 3, Stockholm,
p 565
6. Åman A (2000–2002) David von Schultzenheim, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon 31:665
7. Fors H (2003) Mutual favours (diss). Depatment of history of science and ideas. Uppsala
University, Uppsala, p 174
8. Sjöstén CG (1801) Åminnelse-tal, hållit för Kongl. Vetenskaps Academien öfver dess
framledne ledamot herr Carl Vilhelm Scheele, den 14 Oct 1799, Stockholm, p 12
Fig. 10.2 Silver chloride
exposed to sunlight. The
originally white powder
darkens by metallic silver
particles Photo Anders
Lennartson
10.1 Scheele’s Research in Stockholm
157
Transactions of Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. A paper called “Chemical
findings on Sal acetocellae etc.” was read in the Academy on August 17, 1768, but
was rejected on November 9 on the recommendation by Bergman, who found no
novelty in the paper [13]. The manuscript is not preserved, and its contents are not
known. Sal acetocellae is potassium hydrogen oxalate, but the paper cannot have
described the isolation of oxalic acid, since Scheele wrote in a letter to Hjelm dated
November 1780 that he had yet not prepared that acid. It has been indicated by
Gahn, Bäck and Ehrhart that Scheele made a third unsuccessful attempt to send a
manuscript to the Transactions of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and this
paper is supposed to have reported the isolation of tartaric acid. If so, the paper on
tartaric acid by Retzius, who had a far stronger position than Scheele, may have
been a way to help Scheele to establish himself as a chemist, rather than a way to
take credit of Scheele’s research, which has occasionally been suggested.
References
1. Nordholm U, Härdelius M (1974) Apoteket Korpen Gamla stan 300 år, Stockholm
2. Lindeke B, Yue Q-Y (2000) Ett kinesiskt apotek in: Ostindiska kompaniet – Affärer och
föremål, Gothenburg, p 217
3. Ersgård H (1982) Apoteket Fläkta Örn i Malmö tiden 1731–1820. Sv Farm Tidskr 86:28
4. Boëthius B (1927), Abraham Bäck, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon vol 7, Stockholm, p 71
5. Fries RE, Hult OT (1922), Peter Jonas Bergius, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon vol 3, Stockholm,
p 565
6. Åman A (2000–2002) David von Schultzenheim, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon 31:665
7. Fors H (2003) Mutual favours (diss). Depatment of history of science and ideas. Uppsala
University, Uppsala, p 174
8. Sjöstén CG (1801) Åminnelse-tal, hållit för Kongl. Vetenskaps Academien öfver dess
framledne ledamot herr Carl Vilhelm Scheele, den 14 Oct 1799, Stockholm, p 12
Fig. 10.2 Silver chloride
exposed to sunlight. The
originally white powder
darkens by metallic silver
particles Photo Anders
Lennartson
10.1 Scheele’s Research in Stockholm
157