Death
While Scheele's experiments generated substances which have long since been found to be hazardous, the compounds and elements he used to start his experiments were dangerous to begin with, especially heavy metals. Scheele had a bad habit of sniffing and tasting any new substances he discovered. Cumulative exposure to mercury, lead, their compounds, fluoric acid, and other substances took their toll on Scheele, who died on 21 May 1786 at his home in Köping. He married the widow Pohl two days before he died so that he could pass on his possessions and his pharmacy to someone.
Read more about this topic: Carl Wilhelm Scheele
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“Cry woe, destruction, ruin, and decay:
The worst is death, and death will have his day.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“I was now at a university in New York, a professor of existential psychology with the not inconsiderable thesis that magic, dread, and the perception of death were the roots of motivation.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
“I asked myself, “Is it going to prevent me from getting out of here? Is there a risk of death attached to it? Is it permanently disabling? Is it permanently disfiguring? Lastly, is it excruciating?” If it doesn’t fit one of those five categories, then it isn’t important.”
—Rhonda Cornum, United States Army Major. As quoted in Newsweek magazine, “Perspectives” page (July 13, 1992)