Gabriel-François Venel

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gabriel-François Venel (born August 23, 1723 in Tourbes ( Hérault ), † October 29, 1775 in Pezenas ) was a French doctor, pharmacist, chemist and encyclopedia .

Live and act

His father was Étienne Venel (* 1695), Premier consul de Pézenas and his mother was Jeanne Icher. His brother was Joseph André Venel († 1791), also Premier consul de Pézenas and also a physician, Docteur en médecine de Montpellier . In 1742 he received his medical degree in Montpellier , after which he began studying chemistry in Paris . Venel was a student of the chemist Guillaume-François Rouelle at the Jardin du Roi . From 1757 he was professor for materia medica (pharmacy) and chemistry at his old University of Montpellierwas appointed, an office he held until his death in 1775. A dissertation on the subject of Hygienes prospectum et prolegomena sistens dissertatiuncula was submitted in 1762.

In 1768 he became a member of the Société Royale des Sciences of Montpellier, Société royale des sciences de Montpellier . He was also inspector general for mineral water assessment, Inspecteur général des Eaux minérales . Together with the French chemist and pharmacist Pierre Bayen (1725–1798), both analyzed many mineral waters from France. In 1750 Venel used a color indicator which he extracted from violet juice and which helped to analyze the mineral waters; this violet dye turned red in the acidic pH range .

He worked on the Encyclopédie by Denis Diderot and Jean Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert , for which he wrote 673 articles, most of which were combined in the third volume on the subjects of chemistry, pharmacy, physiology and medicine. One of his most famous articles was that of menstruation, a taboo subject for the time. He took the opportunity to clear up some popular misconceptions and prejudices. According to Venel, chemical processes take place in the stomach. Digestion is interpreted as a real chemical process, or rather as a process or series of chemical operations (Enc., V, 1001b, "digestion"). He wrote an essay in which he compared biological, botanical structures with mineral ones, Végétation métallique and in 1752 an essay on the chemical analysis of plants, which was printed in the second volume of the encyclopedia.

Works (selection)

  • Dissertatio De humorum crassitudine ubi de incidentibus et attenuantibus, cum theoria et curatione obstructionum in genere. Cujus ... tueri conabitur ... Gabriel-Franciscus Venel ... Praeside ... DD Antonio Magnol ... / Monspelii: apud Augustinum Rochard, Regis & Universitatis Typographum unicum, 1741
  • Examination chimique d'une eau minérale nouvellement découverte à Passy dans la maison de Monsieur et Madame de Calsabigi. Paris, 1755
  • Examination chimique d'une eau minérale nouvellement découverte à Passy dans la maison de Monsieur & de Madame de Calsabigi; exécuté en conséquence de l'ordonnance de M. le Premier Médecin. du 23 avril 1755, qui commet à cet effet les Srs. Venel & Bayen, préposés par le Roi à l'analyse des eaux minérales du royaume. Paris, 1755
  • Analyzes chimiques des nouvelles eaux minérales, vitrioliques, ferrugineuses, decouvertes a Passy dans la maison de madame de Calsabigi. Avec les proprietés medicinales de ces mêmes eaux, fondées sur les observations des médecins & surgeriens des plus célébres, dont on rapporte les certificats authentiques. Paris Veuve de Gabriel-François Quillau M. DCC. LVII, (1757)
  • Quaestiones chemicae duodecim: ab illustrissimis viris, regis consiliariis, medicis, et professoribus meritissimis ... propositae ... pro regia cathedra vacante in Universitate Medicinae Monspeliensi. per obitum RD Caroli Serane / quas ... propugnabit ... Gabriel-Franciscus Venel ... / Monspelii: Apud Augustinum-Franciscum Rochard, 1759
  • Gabriel-Francisci Venel De medicamentis compositis prælectiones quæ alterum præbuere ex multiplicibus tentaminibus. Monspelii, apud viduam Joannis Martel. M.DCC.LXI, 1761
  • Instructions sur l'usage de la houille, plus connue sous le nom impropre de charbon de terre, pour faire du feu; sur la manière de l'adapter à toute sorte de feux; et sur les avantages, tant publics que privés, qui résulteront de cet usage. Publ. Par ordre des Etats de la province de Languedoc. Avignon: Regnault, 1775
  • Analysis of the végétaux. Recueil des savants étrangers. Vol. II 1752
  • Instructions sur l'usage de la houille, plus connue sous le nom impropre de charbon de terre. 1775
  • Encyclopédie méthodique de chimie 1796

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Gabriel-François Venel  - Sources and full texts (French)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Charles Théodore Beauvais de Préau, Antoine Alexandre Barbier: Biography universal classique: ou, Dictionnaire historique portatif. C. Gosselin, (1829) vol. 6, p. 3190
  2. ↑ Genealogy of the parents
  3. ↑ Biographical data
  4. ↑ Joseph Fr. Michaud, Louis Gabriel Michaud: Biography universal, ancienne et modern. vol. 48, Paris (1827) pp. 129-130
  5. ↑ Kafker, Frank A .: Recherches sur Diderot et sur l'Encyclopédie. Année (1990) Volume 8 Numéro 8 pp. 101-121, p. 118
personal data
SURNAME Venel, Gabriel-François
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Venel, Gabriel François
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French doctor, chemist and encyclopaedist
DATE OF BIRTH August 23, 1723
PLACE OF BIRTH Tourbes
DATE OF DEATH October 29, 1775
Place of death Pezenas