23
Bergman as an Analytical Chemist
Before the eighteenth century, analytical methods were mainly applied to ores and
mineral waters. Ores were analysed quantitatively by reducing them on small scale
with charcoal and different fluxes to metal (assaying). This indicated the amount of
metal ore would yield but did not accurately tell the actual metal content of the ore.
Mineral waters were analysed mainly by fractionated crystallisation and identification of the deposited crystals by their visual appearance. Thus, analysis was
almost exclusively performed in the solid state.
As we will see, the knowledge of solution chemistry grew during the first half of
the eighteenth century and some of the discovered reactions found use for analytical
purposes. However, this knowledge was scattered in the literature, and there was no
general procedure for chemical analysis in solution. At the same time, the demands
for analytical methods had increased dramatically, not least due to industrialisation.
As Szabadváry put it: “The first person to attempt to overcome this problem was
Bergman. [—] Chemical analysis had been practised for two thousand years before
Bergman, but it was he who gave it the status of a separate branch of science—
Analytical Chemistry” [1].
23.1 Chemistry in Solution
This section will give an indication of how the knowledge of chemical reactions in
solution grew during the earlier phases of the history of chemistry. Basilius
Valentinus
1 noted that, for instance, silver is precipitated from aqueous solution by
1
The author and age of the works of Basilius Valentinus are disputed; he was alleged to be a
Benedictine monk living in the second half of the fifteenth century. Some works have been
attributed to Johann Thölde (c. 1565–c. 1624)
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
A. Lennartson, Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Torbern Bergman, Perspectives on the
History of Chemistry, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49194-9_23
311
Bergman as an Analytical Chemist
Before the eighteenth century, analytical methods were mainly applied to ores and
mineral waters. Ores were analysed quantitatively by reducing them on small scale
with charcoal and different fluxes to metal (assaying). This indicated the amount of
metal ore would yield but did not accurately tell the actual metal content of the ore.
Mineral waters were analysed mainly by fractionated crystallisation and identification of the deposited crystals by their visual appearance. Thus, analysis was
almost exclusively performed in the solid state.
As we will see, the knowledge of solution chemistry grew during the first half of
the eighteenth century and some of the discovered reactions found use for analytical
purposes. However, this knowledge was scattered in the literature, and there was no
general procedure for chemical analysis in solution. At the same time, the demands
for analytical methods had increased dramatically, not least due to industrialisation.
As Szabadváry put it: “The first person to attempt to overcome this problem was
Bergman. [—] Chemical analysis had been practised for two thousand years before
Bergman, but it was he who gave it the status of a separate branch of science—
Analytical Chemistry” [1].
23.1 Chemistry in Solution
This section will give an indication of how the knowledge of chemical reactions in
solution grew during the earlier phases of the history of chemistry. Basilius
Valentinus
1 noted that, for instance, silver is precipitated from aqueous solution by
1
The author and age of the works of Basilius Valentinus are disputed; he was alleged to be a
Benedictine monk living in the second half of the fifteenth century. Some works have been
attributed to Johann Thölde (c. 1565–c. 1624)
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
A. Lennartson, Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Torbern Bergman, Perspectives on the
History of Chemistry, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49194-9_23
311