Christopher Glaser (1615 – between 1670 and 1678), a
pharmaceutical
A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and ...
chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe ...
of the 17th century.
Life
He was born in
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS) ...
. He became demonstrator of
chemistry, as successor of
Lefebvre, at the
Jardin du Roi in Paris, and
apothecary
''Apothecary'' () is a mostly archaic term for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses '' materia medica'' (medicine) to physicians, surgeons, and patients. The modern chemist (British English) or pharmacist (British and North Amer ...
to
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Ve ...
and to the
Duke of Orléans
Duke of Orléans (french: Duc d'Orléans) was a French royal title usually granted by the King of France to one of his close relatives (usually a younger brother or son), or otherwise inherited through the male line. First created in 1344 by King ...
.
He is best known through his ''Traité de la chymie'' (Paris, 1663),
which went through some ten editions in about twenty-five years, and was translated into both German and English.
It has been alleged that he was an accomplice in the notorious poisonings carried out by
Madame de Brinvilliers
Marie-Madeleine d'Aubray, Marquise de Brinvilliers (22 July 1630 – 16 July 1676) was a French aristocrat who was accused and convicted of murdering her father and two of her brothers in order to inherit their estates. After her death, there ...
, but the extent of his complicity in providing
Godin de Sainte-Croix poison in the ''
Affair of the Poisons
An affair is a sexual relationship, romantic friendship, or passionate attachment in which at least one of its participants has a formal or informal commitment to a third person who may neither agree to such relationship nor even be aware of i ...
'' is doubtful. He appears to have died before 1676. The ''sal polychrestum Glaseri'' is normal
potassium sulfate
Potassium sulfate (US) or potassium sulphate (UK), also called sulphate of potash (SOP), arcanite, or archaically potash of sulfur, is the inorganic compound with formula K2SO4, a white water-soluble solid. It is commonly used in fertilizers, prov ...
which Glaser prepared and used medicinally.
The mineral K
3Na(SO
4)
2 (
Glaserite) is named after him.
Further reading
*
* Mi Gyung Kim
''Affinity, that Elusive Dream: A Genealogy of the Chemical Revolution''(Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press (2003) )
* Martyn Paine
''Materia medica and therapeutics''(3 ed) (New York (1859))
* Anne Somerset - ''The Affair of the Poisons: Murder, Infanticide, and Satanism at the Court of Louis XIV'' (St. Martin's Press (October 12, 2003) )
References
Attribution
*
External links
Long table of chemists with short note of Glaser
{{DEFAULTSORT:Glaser, Christopher
1615 births
1670s deaths
Swiss chemists
Swiss science writers
17th-century Swiss writers