Typically, an apothecary’s education in Sweden at Scheele’s time would take
between 3 and 5 years. It was not a formal education, instead the apprentice’s
parents would write a contract with an apothecary. The apothecary would provide
food and sleeping quarters, while the family had to provide clothes. It was hard
work from the very first day. Scheele was, however, very ambitious and spent the
nights reading the books from Bauch’s book collection. Scheele’s main teacher in
chemistry and pharmacy appears to have been an older apprentice called Grünberg,
who later became apothecary in Stralsund. Grünberg has later told Scheele’s friends
that Scheele was very quiet and serious. Apart from the books in Bauch’s library,
Scheele borrowed books from Grünberg. Two of Scheele’s favourite books were
Laboratorium Chymicum by Johannes Kunckel (1630–1703) and Praelectiones
chemiae by Caspar Neumann (1683–1737) [18]. Not only did Scheele read, he also
repeated the experiments described in the books and often found deviations. This
may be the origin of Scheele’s habit to always question published results and repeat
every published experiment that appeared to contradict his knowledge or chemical
intuition. Zekert has published an inventory list of Bauch’s shop from 1755, [19]
Fig. 4.7 Södra Hamngatan, where the Unicorn pharmacy was once located. The current building
(behind the red car) was built in 1970 and bears no memories from Scheele’s days. The ground
floor houses a gym and a hairdresser. Photo Anders Lennartson, July 2014
54
4 Bergman’s and Scheele’s Education
between 3 and 5 years. It was not a formal education, instead the apprentice’s
parents would write a contract with an apothecary. The apothecary would provide
food and sleeping quarters, while the family had to provide clothes. It was hard
work from the very first day. Scheele was, however, very ambitious and spent the
nights reading the books from Bauch’s book collection. Scheele’s main teacher in
chemistry and pharmacy appears to have been an older apprentice called Grünberg,
who later became apothecary in Stralsund. Grünberg has later told Scheele’s friends
that Scheele was very quiet and serious. Apart from the books in Bauch’s library,
Scheele borrowed books from Grünberg. Two of Scheele’s favourite books were
Laboratorium Chymicum by Johannes Kunckel (1630–1703) and Praelectiones
chemiae by Caspar Neumann (1683–1737) [18]. Not only did Scheele read, he also
repeated the experiments described in the books and often found deviations. This
may be the origin of Scheele’s habit to always question published results and repeat
every published experiment that appeared to contradict his knowledge or chemical
intuition. Zekert has published an inventory list of Bauch’s shop from 1755, [19]
Fig. 4.7 Södra Hamngatan, where the Unicorn pharmacy was once located. The current building
(behind the red car) was built in 1970 and bears no memories from Scheele’s days. The ground
floor houses a gym and a hairdresser. Photo Anders Lennartson, July 2014
54
4 Bergman’s and Scheele’s Education