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Leopold Gmelin
German physiological chemist, born August 2, 1788, Göttingen; died April 13, 1853, Heidelberg.
Associated eponyms:
Gmelin's test
Simple, qualitative method for demonstrating bilirubin in urine.
Rosenbach's test
A test for bile in the urine using nitric acid.
Biography:
Leopold Gmelin was born in Heidelberg into a famous family of physicians and naturalists, descending from the Tübingen pharmacist Johann Georg Gmelin (1674-1728). His father was the physician and philosopher Johann Friedrich Gmelin (1748-1804). Gmelin obtained his doctorate in 1812 in Göttingen, becoming Privatdozent in 1813, extraordinary professor 1814, and full professor of medicine and chemistry in 1817, establishing chemistry as an independent discipline at that university. Of particular importance are his investigations with Friedrich Tiedemann (1781-1861). He resigned from his professorship in 1851 and died two years later. In 1852 he was succeeded by Robert Wilhelm Bunsen (1811-1899).
Gmelin is remembered for his discovery of several substances. He also introduced the terms ester and ketone to two classes of organic compounds. He confirmed the presence of hydrochloric acid in gastric juice and studied the constituents of bile. Above all, however, he is remembered for his textbook on theoretical chemistry - Handbuch der theoretischen Chemie, 1817, in which he compiled and organized the principles of chemistry known at the time.
The book has gone into many revised editions, and Gmelins Handbuch der anorganischen Chemie long remained the largest dictionary of inorganic chemistry. Gmelin developed the test in 1826. Together with F. Tiedemann, another chemist, he published a book on digestion which included microscopic and chemical observations on this. He was an opponent of the atomic-molecular theory.
Bibliography:
- Diss. inaug. chem.-physiol. sistens indagationem chemicam id animadversionibus physiologicis.
Doctorat dissertation, Göttingen, 1812; Edit. nova, Heidelberg, 1814.
German translation in Johann Bartholomäus Trommsdorf's (1770-1837) Journal der Pharmacie, 1814.
- Handbuch der theoretischen Chemie. 3 volumes; 1817-1819.
8th edition worked over by R. J. Meyer and published as:
Handbuch der anorganischen Chemie. Leipzig, 1924.
From 1990 published as Gmelin Handbook of Anorganic and Organometallic Chemistry.
- Versuche über die Wege, auf welchen Substanzen aus dem Magen und Darmcanale in's Blut gelangen, über die Verrichtung der Milz und die geheimen Harnwege.
With Friedrich Tiedemann. Heidelberg, 1820.
- Ueber einige im Gehirn der Menschen und Thiere vorkommende Fettarten.
Zeitschrift für Physiologie, 1824.
- Die Verdauung nach Versuchen. With Friedrich Tiedemann.
2 volumes, Heidelberg, K. Groos, 1826-1827. Confirmation of the work of William Prout (1785-1850) proving that gastric juice contains free hydrochloric acid: On the nature of acid and saline matters usually existing in the stomachs of animals.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, 1824, 114: 45-49.
- Bemerkungen über Wiesbaden's Heilquellen. Poggendorffs Annalen, 1826.
- Handbuch der theoretischen Chemie. Bd 1-8, Heidelberg, 1841-1845.
- Einige neue Bestandtheile der Galle des Ochsen.
With Friedrich Tiedemann. Poggendorff's Annalen, 1827.
- Lehrbuch der Chemie. Heidelberg, 1844.
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