William Gregory (chemist)

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William Gregory

William Gregory (born December 25, 1803 in Edinburgh , † April 24, 1858 ibid) was a Scottish doctor and chemist . He studied with Liebig and translated some of his works. He was also interested in animal magnetism and phrenology .

Life

Gregory was born in Edinburgh in 1803 as the fourth son of physician and chemist James Gregory and Isabella MacLeod .

After medical training in Edinburgh, which he completed in 1828, he moved to Giessen and studied chemistry at the university there. In 1831 he developed a process for the production of "hydrochloric acid morphine", which was soon widely used. The mixture known today as "Gregory salt" consisted of morphine and codeine , which was obtained from opium and calcium chloride.

In 1832 he was elected a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and was its secretary from 1844 to 1858.

After studying in Europe for a few more years, he became an extra-academic lecturer in chemistry in Edinburgh. He was appointed professor of chemistry at Andersonian University in Glasgow, and later he was a lecturer at Dublin Medical School . In 1839 he became Professor of Medicine and Chemistry at King's College, Aberdeen . In 1844 he succeeded his old teacher Thomas Charles Hope at the University of Edinburgh. He was a successful lecturer, but increasingly suffered from an illness that severely impaired his teaching.

Gregory died on April 24, 1858 at his home on Princes Street . He left behind his wife and a son. He was buried in Canongate Kirkyard on the Royal Mile.

Works

As a student of Justus Liebig in Giessen, Gregory had translated and edited some of his works into English. His own works gave him importance in the field of organic chemistry . A list of 40 of his writings was given to the Royal Society's Catalog of Scientific Papers . He also wrote some papers on diatoms . Some of his works are:

  • Outlines of Chemistry , 1845; Second edition, 1847; subsequently divided into two volumes, The Handbook of Inorganic and Organic Chemistry , 1853; the second manual was published in Germany, and Theodor Gerding edited it in Braunschweig in 1854.
  • Letters to a Candid Inquirer on Animal Magnetism , 1851.

He has also published the following works, which are translations of Liebig's works: Animal Chemistry , Chemistry in its Applications to Agriculture and Physiology , Familiar Letters on Chemistry , Instructions for Chemical Analysis of Organic Bodies , Agricultural Chemistry , Chemistry of Food , and Researches on the Motion of the Juices in the Animal Body , he also published a translation of Karl Reichenbach's Researches on Magnetism, Electricity, Heat, & c., In their relation to Vital Force , 1850. Together with Liebig he translated Edward Turner's Elements of Chemistry .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Matthew H. Kaufman: William Gregory (1803-1858): Professor of Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh and enthusiast for phrenology and mesmerism . In: Journal of Medical Biography . 16, No. 3, England, August 2008, ISSN  0967-7720 , pp. 128-33. doi : 10.1258 / jmb.2007.007009 . PMID 18653829 .
  2. ↑ a b c Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783 - 2002
  3. ↑ a b c d e Gregory William in the Dictionary of National Biography . London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885-1900
  4. ^ André Barbier, The Extraction of Opium Alkaloids (1950).
personal data
SURNAME Gregory, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish doctor and chemist
DATE OF BIRTH December 25, 1803
PLACE OF BIRTH Edinburgh
DATE OF DEATH April 24, 1858
Place of death Edinburgh