WENZEL, Karl Friedrich (1740-1793), German metallurgist, was born at Dresden in 1740. His father was a bookbinder, and Wenzel began to learn the same trade; but finding it monotonous he quietly left home and went to Holland at the age of fifteen. In Amsterdam he took lessons in surgery and chemistry, and then entered the Dutch navy as a surgeon. After some years a sea life lost its charm for him, and he resigned, returning to his native land in 1766 to complete his chemical studies at Leipsic. Wenzel now devoted his attention to metallurgy and assaying, working for a time with great success in the town of his birth. He received a prize for the best solution of a problem in workingmetals from the Copenhagen Society of Sciences. He also made some very careful chemical experiments, particularly on the mixture of solutions of various salts, and wrote several books on chemical subjects; his claim for remembrance rests on one of these, Vorlesungen über die chemische Verwandtschaft der Körper. It was published in 1777; a second edition appeared in 1782, and a third with additions in 1800. In 1780 Wenzel received the appointment of director of mines at Freiberg from the elector of Saxony, and in 1786 that of chemist in the porcelain works at Meissen. He died at Freiberg on February 26, 1793....