Christopher Glaser (1615 – between 1670 and 1678), a
pharmaceutical
Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, 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 ...
chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...
of the 17th century.
Life
He was born in
Basel
Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
. He became demonstrator of
chemistry
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
, as successor of
Lefebvre, at the
Jardin du Roi
The Jardin des Plantes (, ), also known as the Jardin des Plantes de Paris () when distinguished from other ''jardins des plantes'' in other cities, is the main botanical garden in France. Jardin des Plantes is the official name in the present da ...
in Paris, and
apothecary
''Apothecary'' () is an Early Modern English, archaic English term for a medicine, medical professional who formulates and dispenses ''materia medica'' (medicine) to physicians, surgeons and patients. The modern terms ''pharmacist'' and, in Brit ...
to
Louis XIV
LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
and to the
Duke of Orléans.
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, but the extent of his complicity in providing
Godin de Sainte-Croix poison in the ''
Affair of the Poisons'' 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