GMELIN, Johann Georg (1709-1755), a distinguished naturalist, son of the chemist of the same name, was born at Tiibingen, June 12, 1709. Having taken his degree in medicine, he in 1727 repaired to St Petersburg, where in 1731 he was appointed professor of chemistry and natural history. In 1733, by order of the empress Anna, he joined Deslisle, G. F, Müller, and Behring in an expedition for the exploration of Siberia, which was penetrated as far as the Lena. He returned to St Petersburg in 1743. In 1749 he was chosen professor of botany and chemistry at Tiibingen, where he died, May 20, 1755. Linnaeus named a genus of plants G melina in his honour.
His chief works are Flora Sibirien (4 vols., St Petersburg, 1749— 50), and Reisen Durch Sibirien (4 vols., St Petersburg, 1752).
GMELIN, Leopold (1788-1853), a celebrated chemist, was born August 2, 1788, at Göttingen, in the university of which city his father, Johann Friedrich Gmelin, was professor of medicine. He studied medicine and chemistry at Gottingen, Tiibingen, and Vienna, and in 1813 commenced lecturing on chemistry at Heidelberg, where in 1814 he was appointed extraordinary and in 1817 ordinary professor of medicine and chemistry; the latter office he held till 1850. He died at Heidelberg, April 13, 1853....
Gmelin’s fame rests chiefly on his chemical dictionary, the Handbuch der Chemie, the first edition of which, in 2 vois., was published at Frankfort in 1817-19. The fourth edition (Heidelberg, 1843, &c. ) was written by Gmelin himself as far as the end of vol. V. was continued by Drs List and Kraut and others, and completed by an eighth volume on physiological chemistry, the work of Professors Lehmann and Rochleder. A revision of the Handbuch by Kraut, in two parts, has since appeared. Of the fourth edition an English translation by H. Watts was published by the Cavendish Society in 1848-59. Gιnelin was the author also of Versuch eines neuen ehem. Mincralsystems (Heidelberg, 1825), and of numerous scientific papers. With Tiedemann he wrote Versuche uber die ∏>yc auf welchem Substanzen aus dem Magen und Darrnkanale in das Blut gelangen (Heidelberg, 1820), and Die Verdauung (2 vols., Heidelberg, 1826-27).
GMELIN, Samuel Gottlieb (1743-1774), an eminent naturalist, nephew of J. G. Gιnelin (see above), was born at Tübingen, June 23, 1743. He graduated there as M.D. in 17G3, went to St Petersburg in 1767, and in 1768, with Pallas, Güldenstädt, and Lapuchin, commenced a journey for the scientific exploration of the south-east possessions of Russia. Having visited in succession the western districts of the Don, the Persian provinces to the south and southwest of the Caspian Sea, the regions of the Volga, and the eastern borders of the Caspian, he in 1774 was on his way back to St Petersburg when he was seized as a hostage by Usmey Khan, of the Kaitak tribe, through whose ill-treatment he died on July 27th of the same year.
His principal works are Historia Fucorum iconibus illustrata (St Petersburg, 1768), and Voyages dans differentes parties des 1 Empire de Russie (4 vols. 4to, St Petersburg, 1770-84).
[138 words — estimated reading time: 1 minute]