Daniel Sennert (25 November 1572 – 21 July 1637) was a German

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and a prolific academic writer, especially in the field of

alchemy Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...

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 ...

. He held the position of professor of

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

at the

University of Wittenberg Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

for many years.

Biographical information

Daniel Sennert was born in 1572 in the city of Breslau (now

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

, Poland), at the time part of the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

. His father, Nicolaus Sennert, was a shoemaker from Laehn,

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

. Sennert attended the

and received his master's degree in 1598 and his medical degree in 1601. In his early work, he demonstrated an avoidance of alchemical theory and an acceptance of Aristotelian theory. However, within a decade of receiving his medical degree he had changed to accepting alchemical transmutation and experimentation as valid. He published a number of popular books on alchemy and chemistry, several of which received a number of reprintings and translations. He served on the faculty at the University of Wittenberg for the rest of his life, serving six times as the Dean of the medical faculty at Wittenberg, and also served as the physician to many aristocrats and rulers, including John George I, Elector of Saxony. He died of the plague in 1637 in

Wittenberg Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is the fourth-largest town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. It is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of the reunified German ...

Scientific contributions

Sennert is notable for his contributions to the development of an early version of

atomic theory Atomic theory is the scientific theory that matter is composed of particles called atoms. The definition of the word "atom" has changed over the years in response to scientific discoveries. Initially, it referred to a hypothetical concept of ...

. Specifically, he forms an intermediate bridge between the works of Geber and the more recognized Corpuscularianists such as

Robert Boyle Robert Boyle (; 25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691) was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, Alchemy, alchemist and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the foun ...

. Corpuscularianism differs from modern atomic theory in a number of significant ways, most noticeably a lack of a mathematical argument for its existence, something Sennert specifically rejected.Meinel, Christoph, "Early Seventeenth-Century Atomism: Theory, Epistemology, and the Insufficiency of Experiment" ''Isis'', Vol. 79, No. 1 (March 1988), The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science Society, pp. 68-103. Sennert is an intermediate step between corpuscular particle theory and Aristotelian forms. The same works that are often cited as demonstrating his early atomist views also emphasize the importance of substantial forms.Michael, Emily, "Daniel Sennert on Matter and Form: At the Juncture of the Old and the New," ''Early Science and Medicine'' Vol. 2, No. 3, The Fate of Hylomorphism. "Matter" and "Form" in Early Modern Science (1997), BRILL, pp. 272-299. Sennert's theories were based on an experiential and experimental evidence that he gathered both from eyewitness accounts and his own laboratory experience. "Besides giving one of the earliest accounts of scarlatina, Sennert added to the knowledge of scurvy, dysentery and alcoholism. He was an able clinician but a believer in witchcraft." One of Sennert's most notable experiments was a variation on the "reduction to the pristine state." Taking an alloy of gold and silver, the silver was dissolved from the alloy in aqua fortis. In the classic "reduction to the pristine state," the silver was then precipitated out of the aqua fortis by the addition of salt of tartar and then heated in a crucible to return it to its recognizable metallic form. Sennert's innovation on this experiment was the addition of pouring the silver-aqua fortis solution through a paper filter before precipitating the silver from the solution. This experiment was used as evidence that the silver remained in the mixture in the form of minuscule particles, rather than dissolving into its Aristotelian components. It appears to have inspired similar experiments on the part of Robert Boyle and others used to establish acceptance of Corpuscularianism.

Publications

*''Institutiones medicinae'' (Wittenberg, 1611) *
Epitome scientiae naturalis
' (1618) *''De chymicorum cum Aristotelicis et Galenicis consensu ac dissensu'' (Wittenberg, 1619) *''Practicae medicinae ''(Wittenberg, 1635) in 6 vols.'' *''Hypomnemata physicae'' (Frankfurt, 1636)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sennert, Daniel 1572 births 1637 deaths Physicians from Wrocław University of Wittenberg alumni Academic staff of the University of Wittenberg 17th-century German physicians 17th-century Lutherans 17th-century German chemists 17th-century German writers 17th-century German male writers

Biographical information

Scientific contributions

Publications

References

Further reading

External links