Steven Blankaart

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Steven Blankaart

Steven Blankaart (born October 24, 1650 in Middelburg , † February 23, 1704 in Amsterdam ) was a Dutch physician, chemist, pharmacist and entomologist . Name variants are Steven Blanckaert , Stephan Blancard and Latinized Stephanus Blancardus .

Life

His father Nicolas Blankaart (1624–1703, also Blanckaert) was a grammar school professor of history and philosophy as well as a minister in Steinfurt (1645 to 1650) and professor of history and antiquity in Middelburg (1650 to 1666) and a doctor in Franeker . Steven Blankaart studied after attending the Latin school in Middelburg and an apprenticeship as a pharmacist in Amsterdam in Franeker medicine, where he received his doctorate in medicine at the University of Franeker in 1674 . Then he settled as a general practitioner in Amsterdam, where he is buried in the Westerkerk.

As a physician and entomologist, he was a follower of René Descartes' theories experimentally, in entomology, for example, the production of insects from the egg like Francesco Redi before and did not follow the notion of spontaneous generation from the mud, which was still common at the time. He is known for his illustrated book about insects from 1688. In Amsterdam he had contact with the entomologist and illustrator Maria Sybilla Merian and helped her with the publication.

As a physician, he proved the existence of the capillary system of the blood vessels without realizing their significance. He also dealt with paediatrics (with the first Dutch book about it in 1688) and published encyclopedias on medicine, which were widely used. He was a supporter of the iatrochemist Franciscus Sylvius , also in recommending the consumption of large quantities of tea and coffee. He translated works by John Mayow into Dutch. There are numerous books by him, for example on sexually transmitted diseases, pharmacy, surgery and gout. He also wrote a compendium of chemistry (Theatrum Chemicum), in which, in contrast to comparable Baroque works of the same title, he deals less with alchemy than with practical chemistry.

In addition to these topics, Blankaart also dealt with questions of corpse conservation and the production of anatomical specimens. Blankaart suggested that the corpse should first be cleaned of putrefactive substances for several weeks by long enemas with alcohol and large amounts of warm water and then placed in a tin or lead coffin to prevent the alcohol from evaporating. However, this procedure was only partially successful. So it was not possible to completely remove the intestinal contents by enemas, and a body prepared with alcohol was only protected from putrefaction until the alcohol had evaporated.

Blankaart published one of the first Dutch medical magazines (Collectanea medico-physica, 1680, 1688).

In his free time he was involved in painting, paper cutting and poetry.

In 1682 he married Isabella de Carpentier (1644-1730), with whom he had two sons. One died of chickenpox at the age of four, whereupon Blankaart wrote the treatise Over de kinderpokken , the other son Willem (1683-1748) was a doctor of law and was councilor and member of the judiciary of the city and country of Vianen.

Fonts (selection)

  • Tractatus Novus de Circulatione Sanguinis per fibras, nec non de valvulis in iis repertis. Amsterdam 1676
  • Nieuwe Hervormde anatomy. Amsterdam 1678
  • Lexicon medicum graeco-latinum, in quo totius artis Medicae termini, in Anatome Chirurgica, Pharmacia, Chymia, Re Botanica etc. Usitati, dilucide et breviter exponuntur, juxta Neotericorum tum Practicorum tum Mechanicorum placita, et vere demonstrata principia. Amsterdam 1679
    • Many more editions, u. a .: 2nd edition Jena 1683 (reprint, with a foreword by Karl-Heinz Weimann , Hildesheim 1973), Leiden 1690 (Lexicon novum medicum graeco-latinum), 1702, 1717, 1735, 1756, Frankfurt 1705, Halle, Magdeburg 1718 (Lexicon Medicum Graeco-Latino-Germanicum), Löwen 1754 (Lexicon medicum renovatum, 2 volumes), London 1708, 1715, 1726
  • Theatrum chimicum; ofte geopende deure of the chymic hidden prayer. Amsterdam 1680, 1693 (German edition Theatrum Chemicum or opened scene and door to the secrets in the Scheide-Kunst. Gleditsch, Leipzig 1694, Fritsch, Leipzig 1700, 1708)
  • Negotiations from the Podagra en Vgende Jicht. Hoom, Amsterdam 1684 Digitized by the Bavarian State Library
  • Pharmacie en Chymie. Amsterdam 1686
  • Gebruik en mis-bruik van de thee, mitsgaders een negotiating wayens de deugden en kragten van de tobacco. / Door Cornelis Bontekoe, ...; Here there was no negotiation of coffee, met des zelfs crashed in gezonde, en ongezonde. 's Gravenhage, Amsterdam 1686
  • The Nederlandschen Herbarius . Amsterdam 1698 Digitized by the Bavarian State Library
  • Over de kinderziekte. Amsterdam 1688
  • Schou-Burg der Rupsen, Wormen, Maden en Vgende Dierkens daar uit voortkomende. Door own ondervindinge by een asked. J. ten Hoorn, Amsterdam 1688
  • Traité de la vérole, gonorrhée, chancres, bubes venéreens, & de leurs accidens, avec une guerison véritable et solid. Amsterdam 1688, digitized
  • Pharmacopoea ad mentem neotericorum adornata. Amsterdam 1688
  • Thorough description of the Scharbock and its coincidences. Gleditsch, Leipzig 1693 Digitized by the Bavarian State Library
  • Gasthuis der zieken. Amsterdam 1690
  • Aanmerkingen over de Chirurgie en Praktijk van P. Barbette. Amsterdam 1694
  • Venus proves en ontzet. Zynde een negotiating van de pokken en des selfs toevallen, van druipers, chankers, klap-ooren, Spaanse collars, sand-klooten, cordée uitwasschen, ... met een zekere en grondige genezinge, steunende op de Carteriaanse philosophie en het probing suur en sout. Amsterdam 1696
  • Anatomia practica rationalis, sive variorum cadaverum morbis denatorum anatomica inspectio. Amsterdam 1688 (German edition Hannover 1692)
  • Herbarius Belgicus. Amsterdam 1698, 1710
  • Kortbondige chaff from Hippocrates. Rotterdam
  • Institutiones chirurgicae rarioribus fundamentis superaedificatae. Suffering 1701
  • Burgerlijke Tafel om lang zonder ziekten en gezond te leven; Cartesiaan Academie of Institutie der Medicijnen. Amsterdam 1702
  • Konstkamer of Surgery. Amsterdam 1702
  • Negotiating van de leger-en scheepsziekten. Amsterdam 1703
  • De Hedendaagsche Chymie. Amsterdam 1703
  • Opera Medica, theoretica, practica et clinica. Suffering 1701

Web links

Commons : Steven Blankaart  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Engel: Blankaart, Steven. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , pp. 185 f.
  2. ↑ Magdalena Hawlik-van de Water: The beautiful death. Ceremonial structures of the Viennese court at death and burial between 1640 and 1740 , Freiburg / Wien 1989, pp. 203–211 (on "The methods of embalming from antiquity to modern times").
  3. ^ Stefan Laube: Steven Blankaart: Theatrum Chemicum, pdf , with biography of Blankaart
personal data
SURNAME Blankaart, Steven
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Blanckaert, Steven; Blancard, Stephan; Blancardus, Stephanus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch physician, chemist, pharmacist and entomologist
DATE OF BIRTH October 24, 1650
PLACE OF BIRTH Middelburg
DATE OF DEATH February 23, 1704
Place of death Amsterdam