sensitive Prince had developed strong bonds to Tessin, this was initially a very
unfortunate solution. The situation was further complicated by conflicts between
Scheffer and the Queen, Lovisa Ulrika [4]. Still, Klingenstierna remained in the
court until 1764, the year before his death. Having an accomplished physicist as
teacher does not seem to have evoked any scientific interest in the young Prince,
however, who never paid much attention to science.
Klingenstierna was a perfectionist, and only by way of exception did he publish
his discoveries: after his death, 200 unpublished papers were found. Thus, many of
his most important discoveries were independently discovered and published later
by others, in some cases, as late as in the nineteenth century. His contemporaries in
Sweden regarded Klingenstierna and Linnaeus as Sweden’s most important scientists, but while Linnaeus is still well known, few remember Klingenstierna today.
Although Klingenstierna left Uppsala University the same year that Bergman
enrolled, Bergman’s teachers, such as Mårten Strömer and Bengt Ferner, were
students of Klingenstierna and it was in Klingenstierna’s steps that Bergman followed as a young lecturer in physics.
1.3 The Phlogiston Theory
In order to understand the chemistry in this book, a brief knowledge of the phlogiston theory is needed. The phlogiston theory was introduced by German chemist
and physician Georg Ernst Stahl (1659–1734) in the early eighteenth century [5]
and was based on ideas of Johann Joachim Becher (1635–1682), who in turn based
his theories on the old alchemical principles mercury, sulphur and salt which were
believed to comprise matter at the time. The three principles were strongly advocated by Paracelsus, but their origin goes back to old Arabic alchemy. The phlogiston theory taught that combustible bodies contained an inflammable principle
called phlogiston that escaped upon combustion. This caused chemists to believe
that our modern elements were compounds. Metals were thought to consist of a
metal calx (metal oxide in modern terminology) and phlogiston, while sulphur was
composed of sulphuric acid and phlogiston. On burning sulphur, the phlogiston
escaped leaving sulphuric acid (actually sulphur dioxide). Different chemists had
different conceptions of phlogiston. Some, e.g. Stahl, regarded it as a principle that
could not be isolated in free form. Others believed phlogiston to be a material
substance and both charcoal and hydrogen were claimed to be almost pure phlogiston. On watching the flames of burning matter, it was quite natural to regard
combustion as a process where something escaped. Also, when reducing lead(II)
oxide (calx of lead) with charcoal, the calx and the charcoal seemed to disappear
leaving metallic lead; the gaseous carbon dioxide escaped the early chemist’s
attention. It thus seamed logical to regard lead as a compound of lead calx and
charcoal (phlogiston) and to regard metals as compounds was not as far-fetched as
could be imagined. The phlogiston theory was the most widely accepted chemical
theory in the mid-eighteenth century, and for the first time, chemists could explain
8
1 Introduction
unfortunate solution. The situation was further complicated by conflicts between
Scheffer and the Queen, Lovisa Ulrika [4]. Still, Klingenstierna remained in the
court until 1764, the year before his death. Having an accomplished physicist as
teacher does not seem to have evoked any scientific interest in the young Prince,
however, who never paid much attention to science.
Klingenstierna was a perfectionist, and only by way of exception did he publish
his discoveries: after his death, 200 unpublished papers were found. Thus, many of
his most important discoveries were independently discovered and published later
by others, in some cases, as late as in the nineteenth century. His contemporaries in
Sweden regarded Klingenstierna and Linnaeus as Sweden’s most important scientists, but while Linnaeus is still well known, few remember Klingenstierna today.
Although Klingenstierna left Uppsala University the same year that Bergman
enrolled, Bergman’s teachers, such as Mårten Strömer and Bengt Ferner, were
students of Klingenstierna and it was in Klingenstierna’s steps that Bergman followed as a young lecturer in physics.
1.3 The Phlogiston Theory
In order to understand the chemistry in this book, a brief knowledge of the phlogiston theory is needed. The phlogiston theory was introduced by German chemist
and physician Georg Ernst Stahl (1659–1734) in the early eighteenth century [5]
and was based on ideas of Johann Joachim Becher (1635–1682), who in turn based
his theories on the old alchemical principles mercury, sulphur and salt which were
believed to comprise matter at the time. The three principles were strongly advocated by Paracelsus, but their origin goes back to old Arabic alchemy. The phlogiston theory taught that combustible bodies contained an inflammable principle
called phlogiston that escaped upon combustion. This caused chemists to believe
that our modern elements were compounds. Metals were thought to consist of a
metal calx (metal oxide in modern terminology) and phlogiston, while sulphur was
composed of sulphuric acid and phlogiston. On burning sulphur, the phlogiston
escaped leaving sulphuric acid (actually sulphur dioxide). Different chemists had
different conceptions of phlogiston. Some, e.g. Stahl, regarded it as a principle that
could not be isolated in free form. Others believed phlogiston to be a material
substance and both charcoal and hydrogen were claimed to be almost pure phlogiston. On watching the flames of burning matter, it was quite natural to regard
combustion as a process where something escaped. Also, when reducing lead(II)
oxide (calx of lead) with charcoal, the calx and the charcoal seemed to disappear
leaving metallic lead; the gaseous carbon dioxide escaped the early chemist’s
attention. It thus seamed logical to regard lead as a compound of lead calx and
charcoal (phlogiston) and to regard metals as compounds was not as far-fetched as
could be imagined. The phlogiston theory was the most widely accepted chemical
theory in the mid-eighteenth century, and for the first time, chemists could explain
8
1 Introduction