Francis Home

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Francis Home

Francis Home (born November 17, 1719 in Eccles (Berwickshire) , † February 15, 1813 in Edinburgh ) was a Scottish chemist and doctor. He was the first professor of pharmacy ( materia medica ) in Edinburgh.

Francis Home was the son of a lawyer. He was an army surgeon in Flanders and studied medicine between campaigns at the University of Leiden . In 1750 he received his doctorate from the University of Edinburgh and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. He practiced in Edinburgh and was awarded a gold medal in 1757 for an essay on bleaching. In 1768 he became the first professor of Materia Medica in Edinburgh (the chair had just been separated from that of botany), which he remained until 1798.

He made the bleaching process of linen and cotton cheaper and faster by using sour milk instead of sulfuric acid, and he also used quick lime for bleaching.

In 1758 he made his first experiments with measles vaccination. He also published on pseudo croup .

He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh . From 1775 to 1777 he was President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh .

Fonts

  • An Essay on the contents and virtues of Dunse-Spaw, Edinburgh, 1751
  • Experiments on Bleaching, Edinburgh 1756 (also translated into German)
  • The Principles of Agriculture and Vegetation, Edinburgh 1757 (also translated into German)
  • Medical Facts and Experiments, Edinburgh 1759
  • Principia Medicinae, 1758, 2nd ed. 1762 digitized , 3rd edition 1770, 4th ed. 1775 digitized
  • An Inquiry into the Nature, Cause, and Cure of the Croup, Edinburgh 1765
  • Methodus Materiae Medicae, Edinburgh 1770
  • Clinical Experiments, Histories, and Dissections, Edinburgh 1780

literature

  • Winfried R. Pötsch (lead), Annelore Fischer, Wolfgang Müller: Lexicon of important chemists , Harri Deutsch 1989, p. 210
  • JF Enders: Vaccination against measles: Francis Home redivivus, Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, Volume 34, 1962, pp. 239-260.
  • WE Home: Francis Home (1719-1813), First Professor of Materia Medica in Edinburgh, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, Volume 21, 1928, p. 1013.
  • GTB, article Francis Home in Dictionary of National Biography , Online
personal data
SURNAME Home, Francis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish chemist and medic
DATE OF BIRTH November 17, 1719
PLACE OF BIRTH Eccles (Berwickshire)
DATE OF DEATH February 15, 1813
Place of death Edinburgh