Jean Beguin (chemist)

Jean Beguin (* around 1550 in Lorraine , † around 1620 in Paris ) was a French chemist. He belonged to the Paracelsus School of Iatrochemistry and is known as the author of one of the most famous chemistry textbooks of the 17th century, the Tyrocinium Chymicum from 1610. It also contains the first published diagrams of chemical reactions (in the 18th used again by William Cullen and Joseph Black in their lectures).

Title page Tyrocinium chymicum, Wittenberg 1650

Beguin completed an apprenticeship as a pharmacist in Sedan and studied medicine and pharmacy. After a study trip to mines in Italy, Germany and Hungary, he opened a school with a pharmaceutical and chemical laboratory in Paris.

The book Tyrocinium chymicum was created as an introduction and initially only had 70 pages, which grew to over 500 in later editions. It is often seen as the first real chemistry textbook (in contrast to alchemical texts), is very practical and here some chemicals are described for the first time in the literature, such as Spiritus sulphuris volatilis Beguinii (ammonium polysulphide ). He describes for the first time acetone ( burning spirit of Saturn ), sulfur combustion under a glass bell and the production of mercury chloride (Sublimatus Dulcis). In the edition of 1615 there is the first reaction diagram of chemistry (conversion of mercury chloride with antimony sulfide).

In addition to his main work, he published other books such as Novum lumen chymicum (1608) and Les elemens de chymie (1615). His books have been translated into many languages.

literature

• Winfried Pötsch u. a. Lexicon of important chemists , Harri Deutsch 1989
• TS Patterson Jean Beguin and his tyrocinium chymicum , Annals of Science, Vol. 2, 1937, pp. 243-298

Web links

• Tyrocinium chymicum, digitized, edition Wittenberg 1634, Bayr. State Bibl.

Remarks

1. ↑ The book Alchemia by Andreas Libavius 1597 is also known in this regard