ALEXANDER MARCET (1770–1822), PHYSICIAN AND ANIMAL CHEMIST

Alexander Marcet (1770-1822), physician and animal chemist.

ALEXANDER John Gaspard Marcet1 was born in Geneva in the year 1770. His father, who was a merchant of Huguenot descent,2 wished him to follow the family business, but the young Alexander had no liking for commerce. Instead he decided to train for a career in the law, but before he could complete his studies he became involved in the disturbed political situation which arose in Geneva after the ...

Alexander P. Borodin (1833-1887)--great composer, army physician and distinguished scientist-chemist.

Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin (Figure 1) was born on November 12, 1833, in the capital of the Imperial Russia St. Petersburg, as a rejected and illegitimate son of 62-year-old Georgian prince Luka Gedevanishvili (according to one historical source) or prince Luka Stepanovich Gedeonov (second historical source) and a 37 years younger Russian peasant Evdokia Konstantinovna Antonovna. The father ...

The chemical work of Alexander and Jane Marcet.

Alexander Marcet was an authority on urinary calculi and their analysis when few medical practitioners appreciated the usefulness of chemistry in the explanation and treatment of disease. In An Essay on The Chemical History and Medical Treatment of Calculous Disorders, he described the discovery of an xanthine stone. He drew line illustrations of simple chemical apparatus useful for bedside ana...

William Prout: early 19th century physician-chemist.

In the early 19th century, the discoveries of new substances in the healthy and diseased body spawned a search for chemical explanations for physiologic phenomena to guide medical diagnosis and control therapy. William Prout's work on the nature and treatment of diseases of the urinary organs established his reputation as one of Britain's most distinguished physiological chemists. Prout was ver...

Dr William Brownrigg, F.R.S.: physician, chemist and country gentleman.