Bromine, isolated by Balard in 1826, was named by the discoverer
Muride, from Muria, brine. Its actual name was suggested by Gay Lussac
from Bromos, a stench.
Schultzenberger relates, on the authority of Stas, that some years
before the discovery of bromine by Balard, a bottle of nearly pure
bromine was sent to Liebig by a German company of manufacturers of
salt, with the request that he would examine it. Somewhat carelessly
the great chemist tested the product and assumed that it was chloride
of iodine. But he put away the bottle, probably with the intention of
investigating it more closely when he had more leisure. When he heard
of Balard’s discovery he turned to this bottle and realised what he had
missed. Schultzenberger says he kept it in a special cupboard labelled
“Cupboard of Mistakes,” and would sometimes show it to his friends as
an example of the danger of coming to a conclusion too promptly.