Christian Mentzel

Frontispiece of the first edition of the Lexicon plantarum polyglottum universale (Berlin 1682).

Christian Mentzel (born June 15, 1622 in Fürstenwalde / Spree ; † January 27, 1701 in Berlin , Latinized Christianus Mentzelius ) was a German doctor , botanist and sinologist.

life and work

He was the son of the mayor of the city of Fürstenwalde and studied medicine and natural sciences at the universities of Frankfurt / Oder and Königsberg (East Prussia) . He then traveled through Poland , the Netherlands , Italy and Malta and received his doctorate in Padua in 1654 . After his return he settled as a general practitioner in Berlin, where he was appointed personal physician and electoral councilor in 1658 by Elector Friedrich Wilhelm .

Mentzel dealt with botany in a variety of ways. His main works were the Catalogus plantarum circa Gedanum sponte nascentium and the Lexicon plantarum polyglottum universale , which appeared for the first time in Berlin in 1682 and was repeatedly reissued until 1815. He also dealt with Chinese culture, history and language on behalf of the elector as the successor to the sinologist Andreas Müller and maintained contacts with the missionary Philippe Couplet . With the Sylloge Minutiarum Lexici Latino-Sinico-Characteristici (Nuremberg 1685), he published the first Chinese dictionary of symbols in Europe, and in 1696 a comprehensive outline of Chinese history under the title Kurtze Chinese Chronologia or Zeit-Register / Aller Chinesischen Käyser: Von ihr also meant Beginning of the world up to now in our times / the… 1696th year; In a correct order from year to year / ... also with two Chinese tables of the most distinguished stories from the beginning of the world / drawn from the Chinese children's teaching Siao Ul Hio or Lun , which was given to the merchant and traveler Evers Ysbrants Ides (1660– 1708) is dedicated.

At the request of the Elector, Mentzel created the four-volume Theatrum rerum naturalium Brasiliae from the Eckhout illustrations of the Dutch-Brazil exploration (1637–1644) , which is now part of the Libri Picturati kept in the Jagiellonian Library . On February 18, 1675 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina , nicknamed Apollo .

Honors

Charles Plumier named the genus Mentzelia of the plant family of the nettle family (Loasaceae) in his honor . Carl von Linné later took over this name.

literature

Wilhelm Hess : Mentzel, Christian . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 21, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1885, p. 374.
Michael Engel: Mentzel, Christian. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 17, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-428-00198-2 , pp. 94-96 ( digitized version ).
Rolf Winau : Christian Mentzel, the Leopoldina and the Far East , in: Medizinhistorisches Journal, Vol. 11, H. 1/2 (1976), pp. 72-91.
Johann Daniel Ferdinand Neigebaur : History of the imperial Leopoldino-Carolinische German academy of natural scientists during the second century of its existence. Friedrich Frommann, Jena 1860, p. 191 .
Willi Ule : History of the Imperial Leopoldine-Carolinian German Academy of Natural Scientists during the years 1852–1887 . With a look back at the earlier times of its existence. In commission at Wilh. Engelmann in Leipzig, Halle 1889, supplements and additions to Neigebaur's history, p. 148 ( archive.org ).

Web links

Wikisource: Christian Mentzel - Sources and full texts

Literature by and about Christian Mentzel in the catalog of the German National Library
Publications by and about Christian Mentzel in VD 17 .
Member Post by Christian Mentzel at the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina , accessed on May 7, 2017th

Individual evidence

^ Studies of Time Issues, Internet edition 2002
↑ see Claudia von Collani: Couplet, Philippe. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 14, Bautz, Herzberg 1998, ISBN 3-88309-073-5 , Sp. 890-893. ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
^ Charles Plumier: Nova Plantarum Americanarum Genera . Leiden 1703, p. 40f.
^ Carl von Linné: Critica Botanica . Leiden 1737, p. 93
↑ Carl von Linné: Genera Plantarum . Leiden 1742, p. 236

personal data
SURNAME	Mentzel, Christian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Mentzelius, Christianus (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German doctor, botanist and sinologist
DATE OF BIRTH	June 15, 1622
PLACE OF BIRTH	Fürstenwalde / Spree
DATE OF DEATH	January 27, 1701
Place of death	Berlin

[1] Studies of Time Issues, Internet edition 2002

[2] see Claudia von Collani: Couplet, Philippe. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 14, Bautz, Herzberg 1998, ISBN 3-88309-073-5 , Sp. 890-893. ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )

[3] Charles Plumier: Nova Plantarum Americanarum Genera . Leiden 1703, p. 40f.

[4] Carl von Linné: Critica Botanica . Leiden 1737, p. 93

[5] Carl von Linné: Genera Plantarum . Leiden 1742, p. 236