up with his young friend Berzelius, and isolated cerium oxide from cerite [54].
Cerium oxide was independently isolated at about the same time by Klaproth in
Berlin, [55] leading to an infected controversy over the priority of the discovery [56].
15.8 Bergman and the Discovery of Tellurium
Bergman also played a minor role in the discovery of tellurium. Bergman corresponded with a network of mineralogists throughout Europe exchanging not only
letters but also minerals. The most important mineralogical correspondent of
Bergman was Austrian mineralogists Ignaz von Born (1742–1793) and Franz
Joseph Müller von Reichenstein (1742–1825 or 1826) [57]. In 1782, Reichenstein
had found what he believed to be a new metal in a mineral from the Mariahilf gold
mine near Zlatna (Zalatna) in Transylvania (in present day Romania) [58]. At first,
he was told that the new material was antimony, but in April 1783 he contacted
Bergman asking for his opinion [59]. Bergman’s preliminary analysis of the sample
he obtained via Born indicated that the material indeed was a new metal, but more
material was needed for a conclusive decision. Unfortunately, when the new sample
arrived in Uppsala, Bergman was already dead [60]. Reichenstein’s discovery went
unnoticed until Klaproth drew attention to it in 1798 naming the new element
tellurium after the Latin word for Earth [61].
15.9 Hydrosiderum—The Metal that did not Exist
Cold-short iron is iron which is brittle due to a high phosphorus content. In the
eighteenth century, it was recognised that certain ores gave cold-short iron, but the
reason for the brittleness was not known.
3 Johan Christian Friedrich Meyer found
that on dissolving such iron in acid, a white earth remained [62]. The earth could be
reduced to what appeared to be a new metal, which Meyer called siderum or
hydrosiderum, but which was actually an iron phosphide. In summer 1781, Meyer
sent a sample of hydrosiderum to Scheele, who shared the material with Bergman,
who was convinced of its nature as a new metal and reported his results in paper
titled On the cause of brittleness in cold-short iron. A preprint appeared in 1782
[63] and a revised version in the third volume of his Opuscula Physica et Chemica.
The official version was printed in 1784, [64] but by that time it was already
out-dated.
3
Compare Wallerius theory, Sect. 9.1.
226
15 New Metals
Cerium oxide was independently isolated at about the same time by Klaproth in
Berlin, [55] leading to an infected controversy over the priority of the discovery [56].
15.8 Bergman and the Discovery of Tellurium
Bergman also played a minor role in the discovery of tellurium. Bergman corresponded with a network of mineralogists throughout Europe exchanging not only
letters but also minerals. The most important mineralogical correspondent of
Bergman was Austrian mineralogists Ignaz von Born (1742–1793) and Franz
Joseph Müller von Reichenstein (1742–1825 or 1826) [57]. In 1782, Reichenstein
had found what he believed to be a new metal in a mineral from the Mariahilf gold
mine near Zlatna (Zalatna) in Transylvania (in present day Romania) [58]. At first,
he was told that the new material was antimony, but in April 1783 he contacted
Bergman asking for his opinion [59]. Bergman’s preliminary analysis of the sample
he obtained via Born indicated that the material indeed was a new metal, but more
material was needed for a conclusive decision. Unfortunately, when the new sample
arrived in Uppsala, Bergman was already dead [60]. Reichenstein’s discovery went
unnoticed until Klaproth drew attention to it in 1798 naming the new element
tellurium after the Latin word for Earth [61].
15.9 Hydrosiderum—The Metal that did not Exist
Cold-short iron is iron which is brittle due to a high phosphorus content. In the
eighteenth century, it was recognised that certain ores gave cold-short iron, but the
reason for the brittleness was not known.
3 Johan Christian Friedrich Meyer found
that on dissolving such iron in acid, a white earth remained [62]. The earth could be
reduced to what appeared to be a new metal, which Meyer called siderum or
hydrosiderum, but which was actually an iron phosphide. In summer 1781, Meyer
sent a sample of hydrosiderum to Scheele, who shared the material with Bergman,
who was convinced of its nature as a new metal and reported his results in paper
titled On the cause of brittleness in cold-short iron. A preprint appeared in 1782
[63] and a revised version in the third volume of his Opuscula Physica et Chemica.
The official version was printed in 1784, [64] but by that time it was already
out-dated.
3
Compare Wallerius theory, Sect. 9.1.
226
15 New Metals