Chronicles of Pharmacy, Vol. 1 (of 2)Wootton, A. C.
History
Chronicles of Pharmacy, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Wootton, A. C.
Pharmacy -- History
André Constant Dumeril (born at Amiens, 1774, died 1860) was a
physician, but distinguished himself as a naturalist and anatomist.
He had been associated with Cuvier in early life. Latterly he was
consulting physician to Louis Philippe.
Antoine Louis Brongniart (born 1742, died 1804) was the son of a
pharmacist of Paris, and became himself pharmacien to Louis XVI. He
also served the Convention as a military pharmacist, and was placed on
the Council of Health of the Army. In association with Hassenfratz who
was one of the organisers of the insurrection of August 10th, 1792,
and himself a professor at the School of Mines, Brongniart edited a
“Journal des Sciences, Arts, et Metiers” during the Revolution.
The next medallion memorialises Scheele, the great Swedish pharmacist
and chemist, of whose career details have already been given.
Pierre Bayen (born at Chalons s/Marne, 1725, died 1798) was an army
pharmacist for about half of his life, and to him was largely due the
organisation of that service. He was with the French Army in Germany
all through the Seven Years’ War, 1757-1763. Among his scientific works
were examinations of many of the natural mineral waters of France, and
a careful investigation into the alleged danger of tin vessels used
for cooking. Two German chemists, Margraff and Henkel, had reported
the presence of arsenic in tin utensils generally, and the knowledge
of this fact had produced a panic among housekeepers. Bayen went into
the subject thoroughly and was able to publish a reassuring report.
To him, too, belongs the glory of having been one of the chemists
before Lavoisier to prove that metals gain and do not lose weight on
calcination in the air.
Pierre Joseph Macquer, Master of Pharmacy and Doctor of Medicine
(born 1718, died 1784), came of a noble Scotch family who had settled
in France on account of their adherence to the Catholic faith, made
some notable chemical discoveries, and became director of the royal
porcelain factory at Sèvres. He worked on kaolin, magnesia, arsenic,
gold, platinum, and the diamond. The bi-arseniate of arsenic was for
a long time known as Macquer’s arsenical salt. Macquer was not quite
satisfied with Stahl’s phlogiston theory, and tried to modify it;
but he would not accept the doctrines of Lavoisier. He proposed to
substitute light for phlogiston, and regarded light as precipitated
from the air in certain conditions. These notions attracted no support.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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