Georg Ernst Stahl’s Followers (4)

Georg Ernst Stahl

Born

in Ansbach, Germany

October 22, 1659

Died

May 24, 1734

Website

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Ernst_Stahl

Genre

Science, Chemistry, Philosophy

Influences

Antoine Lavoisier ...more

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Georg Ernst Stahl (22 October 1659 – 24 May 1734) was a German chemist, physician and philosopher. He was a supporter of vitalism, and until the late 18th century his works on phlogiston were accepted as an explanation for chemical processes. He died in Berlin.

He was born in Ansbach, Germany on October 21, 1659. His father was Johann Lorentz Stahl. He was raised in Pietism, which influenced his viewpoints on the world. His interests in chemistry were due to the influence a professor of medicine, Jacob Barner, and a chemist, Johann Kunckel von Löwenstjern. In the late 1670s, Stahl moved to Germany to study medicine at the University of Jena. Stahl’s success at Jena earned him a M.D. around 1683 and then he went on to teach at the same univer Georg Ernst Stahl (22 October 1659 – 24 May 1734) was a German chemist, physician and philosopher. He was a supporter of vitalism, and until the late 18th century his works on phlogiston were accepted as an explanation for chemical processes. He died in Berlin.

He was born in Ansbach, Germany on October 21, 1659. His father was Johann Lorentz Stahl. He was raised in Pietism, which influenced his viewpoints on the world. His interests in chemistry were due to the influence a professor of medicine, Jacob Barner, and a chemist, Johann Kunckel von Löwenstjern. In the late 1670s, Stahl moved to Germany to study medicine at the University of Jena. Stahl’s success at Jena earned him a M.D. around 1683 and then he went on to teach at the same university.

Teaching at the university gained him such a good reputation that in 1687 he was hired as the personal physician to Duke Johann Ernst of Sachsen-Weimar. In 1693, he joined his old college friend Friedrich Hoffmann at the University of Halle. In 1694, he held the chair of medicine at the University of Halle. From 1715 until his death, he was the physician and counselor to King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia and in charge of Berlin's Medical Board. He had two wives, who had died from puerperal fever in 1696 and 1706. He also had a daughter who died in 1708.

Stahl's main focus was on the distinction between the living and nonliving. Although he did not support the views of iatro-mechanists, he believed that all non- living creatures are mechanical and so are living things to a certain degree. His views were that nonliving things are stable throughout time and did not rapidly change. On the other hand, living things are subject to change and have a tendency to decompose.

Stahl professed an animistic system, in opposition to the materialism of Hermann Boerhaave and Friedrich Hoffmann. His main argument on living things was that there is an agent responsible for delaying this decomposition of living things and that agent is the anima or soul of the living organism. The anima controls all of the physical processes that happen in the body. It not only just controls the mechanical aspects of it but the direction and goals of them too. How the anima controls these processes is through motion. He believed that the three important motions of the body are the circulation of blood, excretion and secretion.

The best of Stahl’s work in chemistry was done while he was a professor at Halle. Just like medicine, he believed that chemistry could not be reduced to mechanistic views. Although he believed in atoms, he did not believe that atomic theories were enough to describe the chemical processes that go on. He believed that atoms could not be isolated individually and that they join together to form elements. He took an empirical approach when establishing his descriptions of chemistry.

Stahl used the works of Johann Joachim Becher to help him come up with explanations of chemical phenomena. The main theory that Stahl got from J.J Becher was the theory of phlogiston. This theory did not have any experimental back up until Stahl worked on it. Stahl was able to make this theory applicable to chemistry. This theory was later replaced by Antoine Lavoisier’s theory of oxidation. He also propounded a view of fermentation which in some respects resembles that supported by Justus von Liebig a century and half later. Although his theory was replaced, Stahl's theory of phlogiston is seen to be the transition between alchemy and chemistry. ...more

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Georg Ernst Stahl’s books

Average rating: 3.82 · 33 ratings · 0 reviews · 218 distinct works

	Philosophical Principles Of Universal Chemistry: Or, The Foundation Of A Scientifical Manner Of Inquiring Into And Preparing The Natural And ... Of Experiment, And The Larger Way Of Business by Georg Ernst Stahl, Peter Shaw really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2015 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Praxis-Leitfaden Corporate Finance by Georg Ernst Stahl, Ulrich Wiehle, Michael Diegelmann 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ausführliche Abhandlung von den Zufällen und Kranckheiten des Frauenzimmers 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2014	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Materia Medica 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Zufällige Gedanken Und Nützliche Bedenken Über Den Streit, Von Dem Sogenannten Sulphure 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2015 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Gründliche Untersuchung Der Krankheiten, Welche Bey Einem Jeglichen Alter Des Menschen Fürnehmlich Vorzukommen Pflegen 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Einleitung Zur Chirurgie 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Bericht Von Seinen ... Pillen 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Neu-verbesserte Lehre Von Den Temperamenten, Part 2 by Georg Ernst Stahl, Gottfried Heinrich Ulau (Creator) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Materia Medica, Volume 1 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Georg Ernst Stahl (?)

“Briefly, in the act of composition, as an instrument there intervenes and is most potent, fire, flaming, fervid, hot; but in the very substance of the compound there intervenes, as an ingredient, as it is commonly called, as a material principle and as a constituent of the whole compound the material and principle of fire, not fire itself. This I was the first to call phlogiston.”
― Georg Ernst Stahl

tags: chemistry, fire, instrument, material, phlogiston, science

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