Sigismund Friedrich Hermbstädt

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Portrait from 1808

Sigismund Friedrich Hermbstädt (born April 14, 1760 in Erfurt , † October 22, 1833 in Berlin ) was a German pharmacist, chemist, technical writer, technologist and "business consultant".

Throughout his life, Hermbstädt campaigned for the dissemination of craft and industrial techniques. To this end, he held courses for tradespeople and published a large number of papers and books in which he discussed the technologies as well as the physics and chemistry of the processes presented. He made a significant contribution to the modernization and rationalization of agriculture, industry and commerce in Prussia at the beginning of the 19th century.

Life

After attending the St. Michaelis School, an elementary school in his hometown, and the Ratsgymnasium from 1773 to 1774 , Hermbstädt began an apprenticeship as a pharmacist in Erfurt, probably in the Schwan pharmacy of Wilhelm Bernhard Trommsdorff . He also attended lectures on pharmaceutical science and chemistry at the university . After completing his doctorate, he went to Langensalza as a repeater in the pharmaceutical training institute founded by Johann Christian Wiegleb . In 1781 he took up a position as an assistant in the Ratsapotheke in Hamburg.

In 1783 he ran the Berlin pharmacy Zum Weißen Schwan , the pharmacy of the late Valentin Rose the Elder , in which Martin Heinrich Klaproth had worked until 1780 . At the same time, he continued his studies at the royal Collegium medico-chirurgicum , where he also met Christian Gottlieb Selle , personal physician to the Prussian king and privy councilor. In 1786 he went on a study trip to Thuringia in the Harz Mountains and the Saxon Ore Mountains . He stayed longer in Göttingen , Halle , Leipzig and Freiberg and made the acquaintance of Johann Beckmann , Georg Christoph Lichtenberg , Johann Friedrich Gmelin , Georg Forster , Ernst Hebenstreit , Abraham Gottlob Werner , Christlieb Ehregott Gellert , Johann Friedrich Lempe and Johann Gottfried Hoffmann . At the end of 1787 Hermbstädt was privatized again in Berlin and gave private lectures on chemistry, physics, technology and pharmacy. In 1789 he founded a “chemical pension institution for young people” in Berlin to give prospective pharmacists a solid chemical education.

In 1791 he was appointed full professor of chemistry and pharmacy at the Collegium medico-chirurgicum in Berlin . At the same time he was entrusted with the administration of the royal court pharmacy, a task that he performed for seven years. During this time he was appointed to the council of the Obercollegium medicum , to the assessor of the royal Manufactur- und Commerzcollegium and to the assessor of the salt administration. The latter brought about his participation in chemical-technological issues in the department of the minister Carl August von Struensee . Due to an uprising on the sugar island of San Domingo ( Haiti ), sugar became scarce and expensive in Prussia in 1791 . Hermbstädt should therefore look for alternative solutions. Although Andreas Sigismund Marggraf's and Franz Karl Achard's work were known, Hermbstädt carried out his own research on native plants such as Turkish wheat, hogweed, birch, beet and other plants. Ultimately, his works, like those of his “adversary” Achard, were unsuccessful in the late 18th century.

Hermbstädt dealt with almost all applications of the technology of that time, agriculture and pharmacy, published papers on them and thus ensured the dissemination of the existing practical knowledge. Among other things, he dealt with the establishment of a sugar boiling plant, printing processes, production of white lead, dyeing, tannery, brandy production, beer brewing, processing of flax and hemp, cultivation of the tobacco plant and many other technologies.

In 1810 Hermbstädt was appointed a secret medical advisor and, at the suggestion of Alexander von Humboldt and Johann Gottfried Hoffmann, was appointed associate professor for technology (technological chemistry) at the newly founded University of Berlin .

As early as November 1810, the Rector and Senate of the University of Berlin tried to win over the “Section for Public Education” in the Ministry of the Interior to propose “Mr. Secret Counsel and Professor Extraordinarius Hermbstaedt as full Professor of Technology, but without his own salary” . The section, however, “did not think it would be a good thing if men who already live in other business relationships were given a share in the faculty work usually associated with the full professorships.”

From 1811 he was a full professor of chemistry and technology there. From 1816 Hermbstädt also held lectures at the Bergakademie.

In 1786 Hermbstädt became a member of the Imperial Leopold-Carolin. Academy of Natural Scientists ( Leopoldina ), 1786 of the Kurmainzische Academy of Useful Sciences in Erfurt , 1800 of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin and 1832 of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences in Munich. Since 1811 he was an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg . He was also a member of the Berlin Masonic Lodge "Zur Eintracht".

Hermbstädt also had a major influence on the chemical thinking of his time. His translation of Lavoisier's works , whose Traité élémentaire des chimie he published as Des Herr Lavoisier's System of Antiphlogistic Chemistry in 1792, led to a rapid departure from the phlogiston theory. Hermbstädt also made an outstanding contribution to the rapid dissemination of the new chemical nomenclature ( Lavoisier , Berthollet , Guyton de Morveau , 1787).

tomb

He is buried in the cemetery of the Dorotheenstadt and Friedrichswerder communities in Berlin-Mitte.

Services

  • Production of oxalic acid by oxidation of tartaric acid with nitric acid (1782)
  • Dissemination of the new chemical nomenclature according to Lavoisier
  • Advocating Lavoisier's theory of oxidation
  • Presentation and dissemination of modern manufacturing processes
  • Mediator between science and production (management consultant)
  • Publisher and editor of various commercial and agricultural magazines

Fonts

  • Physico-chemical experiments and observations. 2 volumes, Berlin 1786/1789.
  • Systematic outline of general experimental chemistry: designed for the use of his lectures . Rottmann, Berlin 1791 (volumes 1–3) Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
  • Catechism of the Pharmacist's Art. Berlin 1792.
  • Systematic outline of general experimental chemistry , 1792
  • Ground plan of the experimental pharmacy: designed for use in the presentation of the same . Rottmann, Berlin 1792 (Volume 1–2) Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
  • Contribution to the history of the disease and the last days of the life of King Friedrich Wilhelm II. , 1798, digitized
  • Handbook of pharmaceutic practice or explanation of the chemical preparations taken up in pharmacies: designed with excellent consideration of the new Prussian Pharmacopoeia and according to physico-chemical principles . Berlin 1801. Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
  • Floor plan of the art of dyeing , 1802
  • General principles of the art of bleaching or theoretical and practical instructions for bleaching flax, cotton, wool and silk, as well as the yarns spun from them, and woven or knitted witness: processed according to the latest experiences in physics, chemistry and technology / by Sigismund Friedrich Hermbstädt. Realschulbuchhandlung, Berlin 1804 Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
  • Archive of Agricultural Chemistry for Thinking Farmers , 7 vols. 1804–1817.
  • Chemical-technological principles of the entire leather tannery: or theoretical and practical guidance for the rational knowledge and practice of the tannery, the Corduan and Saffian tannery, the junior tannery, the white and chamois tannery, and the parchment manufacture. Berlin 1805-1807. Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
  • Outline of the art of dyeing or general theoretical and practical instructions for ... wool, silk, cotton u. Linen dyeing… 2. quite verb. and probably Edition Berlin 1807 Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
  • Science of Soap Boiling , 1808
  • Outline of theoretical and experimental pharmacy for use during lectures and for self-teaching in the event of a lack of oral instruction for budding doctors, surgeons and pharmacists / designed by Sigismund Friedrich Hermbstädt. - 2., completely redesigned. u. verb. Edition - Berlin, 1808 (Volumes 1–2) Digitized edition of the University and State Library in Düsseldorf
  • Bulletin of the latest and most worth knowing from the natural sciences, as well as the arts, manufactories, technical trades, agriculture and civil housekeeping. Amelang, Berlin 1809–1813 ( digitized version )
  • Manufacture of rum in India , 1813
  • Instructions for the practical and economical production of sugar from beetroot: together with e. Instructions for the manufacture of syrup and sugar from starch, from maple sap, from apples and pears, from wine must, from plums, from bog beets, from maize, etc., as well as using these substances on brandy and vinegar; with 5 coppers . Realschul-Buchhandlung, Berlin 2nd edition. 1814 Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
  • Instructions for the manufacture of syrup and sugar from starch ... , Realschul-Buchhandlung, Berlin 1814 Digitized edition of the University and State Library in Düsseldorf
  • Chemical principles of the art of brewing beer , 1814
  • Extraction and refining of sugar , 1815
  • Technology floor plan , 1816
  • Chemical principles of the art of distilling spirits, presented theoretically and practically: together with e. Instructions for the manufacture of the most important liqueurs; with 12 copper plates . Amelang, Berlin 1817 Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
  • Chemical principles of the art of distillation and liquor production; or theoretical-practical instructions for the rational knowledge and manufacture of single and double brandies, crème's, oils, elixirs, ratafia's and the other fine liquors: with four copper tablets. Amelang, Berlin 1819 Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
  • Chemical principles of the art of brewing beer: or instructions for theoretical and practical knowledge and rational assessment of the latest and most important discoveries and improvements in brewing, together with instructions for the practical presentation of the most important beers in use in Germany and England and some completely new types of them . Amelang, Berlin 3rd ed. 1826 (Volume 1–2) Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
  • Non-profit manual or instructions to dye, bleach and wash woolen, silk, cotton and linen really and permanently yourself without destroying the colors: as well as for self-preparation of common and fine soaps, vinegars, moutards, artificial wines, wine - and beer-like beverages, artificial yeasts, various kinds of ink, incense and other useful items; for economic use for urban and rural households / by Sigismund Friedr. Hermbstädt. Amelang, Berlin 1827 Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
  • Instructions for the chemical breakdown of vegetables in general and of cereals in particular , 1831

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ GStA PK I. HA Rep. 76 V a Sekt. 2 Tit. IV No. 5, Vol. 1, fol. 1 r
  2. ↑ GStA PK I. HA Rep. 76 V a Sekt. 2 Tit. IV No. 5, Vol. 1, fol. 2 f.
  3. ^ Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences since 1724. Sigismund Friedrich Hermbstädt. Russian Academy of Sciences, accessed August 17, 2015 (Russian).

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personal data
SURNAME Hermbstädt, Sigismund Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Pharmacist, chemist, technical writer, technologist and "business consultant"
DATE OF BIRTH April 14, 1760
PLACE OF BIRTH Erfurt
DATE OF DEATH October 22, 1833
Place of death Berlin