Daniel Sennert was a renowned German physician and a prolific academic writer, especially in the field of Alchemy

Alchemy

Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...

 or Chemistry

Chemistry

Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....

. He held the position of professor of medicine at the University of Wittenberg for many years.

Bigraphical information

Daniel Sennert was born in 1572 in the city of Breslau, at the time part of the Hapsburg Monarchy. His father, Nicolaus Sennert, was a shoemaker from Laehn, Silesia. He attended the University of Wittenberg and received his master's degree in 1598 and his medical degree in 1601. In his early work, he demonstrated an avoidance of alchemical theory and an acceptance of Arisototelian theory. However, within a decade of receiving his medical degree he had changed to accepting alchemical transmutation and experimentation as valid. He published a number of popular books on alchemy and chemistry, several of which received a number of reprintings and translations. He served on the faculty at the University of Wittenberg for the rest of his life, serving six times as the Dean of the medical faculty at Wittenberg, and also served as the physician to many aristocrats and rulers, including John George I, Elector of Saxony

John George I, Elector of Saxony

John George I was Elector of Saxony from 1611 to 1656.-Biography:Born in Dresden, he was the second son of the Elector Christian I and Sophie of Brandenburg....

. He died of the plague in 1637 in Wittenberg

Wittenberg

Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a city in Germany in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt, on the river Elbe. It has a population of about 50,000....

.

Scientific contributions

Sennert is notable for his contributions to the development of an early version of atomic theory

Atomic theory

In chemistry and physics, atomic theory is a theory of the nature of matter, which states that matter is composed of discrete units called atoms, as opposed to the obsolete notion that matter could be divided into any arbitrarily small quantity...

. Specifically, he forms an intermediate bridge between the works of Geber

Pseudo-Geber

Pseudo-Geber is the name assigned by modern scholars to an anonymous European alchemist born in the 13th century, sometimes identified with Paul of Taranto, who wrote books on alchemy and metallurgy, in Latin, under the pen name of "Geber". "Geber" is the shortened and Latinised form of the name...

 and the more recognized Corpuscularianists

Corpuscularianism

Corpuscularianism is a physical theory that supposed all matter to be composed of minute particles, which became important in the Seventeenth century. Among the leading corpuscularians were Rene Descartes, Robert Boyle, and John Locke....

 such as Robert Boyle

Robert Boyle

Robert Boyle FRS was a 17th century natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, and inventor, also noted for his writings in theology. He has been variously described as English, Irish, or Anglo-Irish, his father having come to Ireland from England during the time of the English plantations of...

. Corpuscularianism differs from modern atomic theory in a number of significant ways, most noticeably a lack of a mathematical argument for its existence, something Sennert specifically rejected. Sennert is a intermediate step between corpsucular particle theory and Aristotelian forms. The same works that are often sited as demonstrating his early atomist views also emphasize the importance of substantial forms. Sennert’s theories were based on an experiential and experimental evidence that he gathered both from eyewitness accounts and his own laboratory experience.

One of Sennert’s most notable experiments was a variation on the “reduction to the pristine state.” Taking an alloy of gold and silver, the silver was dissolved from the alloy in aqua fortis

Aqua fortis

Aqua fortis, or "strong water," in alchemy, is a solution of nitric acid in water. Being highly corrosive, the solution was used in alchemy for dissolving silver and most other metals with the notable exception of gold, which can only be dissolved using aqua regia...

. In the classic “reduction to the pristine state,” the silver was then precipitated out of the aqua fortis by the addition of salt of tartar and then heated in a crucible to return it to its recognizable metallic form. Sennert’s innovation on this experiment was the addition of pouring the silver-aqua fortis solution through a paper filter before precipitating the silver from the solution. This experiment was used as evidence that the silver remained in the mixture in the form of minuscule particles, rather than dissolving into its Aristotelian components. It appears to have inspired similar experiments on the part of Richard Boyle and others used to establish acceptance of Corpuscularianism.

Publications

• Institutiones medicinae (1611)
• Epitome scientiae naturalis (1618)
• Hypomnemata physicae (1636)