, medicine
Lua error in Module: CategoryForProfession on line 52: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value).Jan Baptista van Helmont(also referred to as: Jan Baptist van Helmont, Jean Baptiste van Helmont, Jean Baptiste van Helmont; netherl. Jan Baptista van Helmont, eng. Jan Baptist van Helmont; January 12, 1580, Brussels - December 30, 1644, Vilvoorde, Southern Netherlands) - chemist, physiologist, physician and theosophist-mystic.
Family, study, travel
Jan Baptista van Helmont was the youngest child in the South Dutch family of the prosecutor and member of the Brussels Council, Christian van Helmont and Maria (van) Stassart, who were married on January 28, 1567 in Brussels Cathedral of Saints Michael and Gudula (eng. St. Michael and St. Gudula cathedral ). Besides him, the family has two sons and two daughters.
Jan Baptista is studying at the University of Leuven, but he can’t decide what science to do until he stops at medicine.
Research
After settling in Vilvoorde, van Helmont took up chemistry and the study of kabbalistic and mystical writings. He made many discoveries in chemistry, introduced the term "gas" into chemical terminology, which he named by analogy with Greek chaos; chemically, he strove to find a remedy for all diseases; in general, he considered chemical processes to be the beginning of many phenomena. Refuting Aristotle, Galen and modern medical science, he created his own theory to explain the phenomena in a living organism. He admitted two immaterial principles in a person: 1) Archeus- the life principle, penetrating the whole body, governing nutrition, digestion of food and resisting disease; 2) Duumvirat- the beginning is reasonable, or the soul itself, which takes place not in the brain, but in the stomach and liver. He called himself Medicus per ignem, pointing to the source from which he wanted to draw his universal medicine.
Van Helmont's experience is known when he took 200 pounds of dry soil and a willow branch weighing 5 pounds, and grew it, watered only with rainwater. The willow weight after 5 years was 164 pounds and the weight of the earth was reduced by only 2 ounces. Van Helmont mistakenly concluded that the material from which the tree was formed came from the water used for irrigation.
Digestion study
Van Helmont paid a lot of attention to digestion issues. In its Ortus Medicinae he argues with the views that are modern for him, according to which digestion occurs due to the heat of the body and asks how then digestion occurs in cold-blooded animals? His own opinion was that digestion is a chemical reaction going on inside the body, for example, inside the stomach, in which a chemical reagent, which he called "an enzyme" (from lat. fermentum"fermentation"). Thus, van Helmont came close to the modern understanding of the role of enzymes in digestion. Van Helmont also proposed and described six different stages of digestion.
Van Helmont or Hooke?
For a long time it was believed that the portrait, published on July 3, 1939 in Time magazine, belongs to the English naturalist Robert Hooke (- years). Lisa Jardine en even put it on the cover of her book about Gooke. However, later researchers came to the conclusion that the portrait depicts van Helmont.
From the works of van Helmont
- Alphabeti vere Naturalis Hebraici brevissima Delineato (A Brief Description of the Genuine Natural Alphabet of the Hebrews), 1667
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Door opened. And a tall fragile girl entered her, carefully looking around ... Horror and joy for a second fettered me, not allowing me to move ... It was my daughter, my little Anna !!! .. True, it was already difficult to call her little now , since during these two years she has stretched out a lot and matured, becoming even more beautiful and even sweeter ...My heart with a cry rushed to her, almost flying out of my chest! .. But there was no hurry. I didn't know what the unpredictable Caraffa was up to this time. Therefore, I had to be very calm, which was almost beyond my human strength. And only the fear of making an irreparable mistake restrained my raging emotions that were rushing out like a hurricane. Happiness, horror, wild joy and fear of loss at the same time tore me apart! .. Caraffa smiled rather with the effect produced ... which immediately made me shudder inside. I didn't even dare to think about what might follow next ... And I knew that if something terrible happened, the desire to protect Anna might turn out to be too strong to resist Karaffe ... and I was terrified that I could not refuse him, so that he didn't ask for it.
But, to my great surprise, his "surprise" turned out to be a real surprise! ..
- Are you glad to see your daughter, Madonna Isidora? - smiling broadly, asked Karaffa.
- It all depends on what follows, Your Holiness ... - I answered cautiously. - But, of course, I'm incredibly happy!
- Well, enjoy the meeting, I'll pick her up in an hour. Nobody will bother you. And then I'll go get her. She will go to the monastery - I think this is the best place for a gifted girl like your daughter.
- The monastery? !! But she has never been a believer, Your Holiness, she is a hereditary Witch, and nothing in the world will make her be different. This is who she is and she can never change. Even if you destroy her, she will still remain a Witch! Just like me and my mother. You cannot make a believer out of her!
- What a child you are, Madonna Isidora! .. - Karaffa laughed sincerely. - Nobody is going to make a "believer" out of her. I think she can perfectly serve our holy church by remaining exactly who she is. And maybe even more. I have far-reaching plans for your daughter ...
- What do you mean, your Holiness? And what does the monastery have to do with it? I whispered with frozen lips.
I was shaking. All this did not fit in my head, and so far I did not understand anything, I only felt that Karaffa was telling the truth. Only one thing scared me half to death - what such "far-reaching" plans this terrible man could have for my poor girl ?!
- Calm down, Isidora, and stop expecting something terrible from me all the time! You provoke fate, you know ... The fact is that the monastery I'm talking about is very difficult ... And outside its walls, almost no soul knows about it. This is a monastery exclusively for the Weduns and Witches. And it has been standing for thousands of years. I have been there several times. I studied there ... But, unfortunately, I did not find what I was looking for. They rejected me ... - Karaffa thought for a moment and, to my surprise, suddenly became very sad. “But I'm sure they'll like Anna. And I am also sure that they will have something to teach your talented daughter, Isidora.
- Aren't you talking about Meteora *, Your Holiness? - knowing the answer in advance, I still asked.
In surprise, Karaffa's eyebrows crept to his forehead. Apparently he did not expect that I had heard about this ...
- Do you know them? Have you been there?! ..
- No, my father has been there, Your Holiness. But then he taught me a lot (later I wildly regretted that I told him this ...). What do you want to teach my daughter there, Holiness ?! And why? .. After all, in order to declare her a Witch, you already have enough evidence. All the same, after all, later you will try to burn it, like everyone else, will you?! ..
Caraffa smiled again ...
- Why did you cling to this stupid idea, Madonna? I'm not going to do any harm to your sweet daughter! She can still serve us splendidly! For a very long time I was looking for Vedunya, who is still quite a child, in order to teach her everything that the “monks” in Meteor know. And so that she would then help me in search of sorcerers and witches, such as she once was. Only then will she already be a witch from God.
Karaffa did not seem crazy, he WAS them ... Otherwise, it was impossible to accept what he was saying now! This was not normal, and therefore frightened me even more.
- Forgive me if I misunderstood something, Your Holiness ... But how can there be Witches from God?! ..
- Well, of course, Isidora! - sincerely amazed at my "ignorance", Karaffa laughed. - If she uses her knowledge and skills in the name of the church, this will come to her from God, since she will create in His name! Don't you understand this? ..
No, I didn't understand! .. And this was said by a man with a completely sick imagination, who, moreover, sincerely believed in what he was talking about! .. He was incredibly dangerous in his madness and, moreover, had unlimited power. His fanaticism crossed all boundaries, and someone had to stop him.
- If you know how to make us serve the church, why then you burn us?! .. - I ventured to ask. - After all, what we possess cannot be acquired for any money. Why don't you appreciate it? Why do you keep destroying us? If you wanted to learn something, why not ask to teach you? ..
, Southern Netherlands
Jan Baptista van Helmont(also referred to as: Jan Baptist van Helmont, Jean Baptiste van Helmont, Jean Baptiste van Helmont; netherl. Jan Baptista van Helmont, eng. Jan Baptist van Helmont; January 12, 1580, Brussels - December 30, 1644, Vilvoorde, Southern Netherlands) - chemist, physiologist, physician and theosophist-mystic.
Family, study, travel
Jan Baptista van Helmont was the youngest child in the South Dutch family of the prosecutor and member of the Brussels Council, Christian van Helmont and Maria (van) Stassart, who were married on January 28, 1567 in Brussels Cathedral of Saints Michael and Gudula (eng. St. Michael and St. Gudula cathedral ). Besides him, the family has two sons and two daughters.
Jan Baptista is studying at the University of Leuven, but he can’t decide what science to do until he stops at medicine.
Research
After settling in Vilvoorde, van Helmont took up chemistry and the study of kabbalistic and mystical writings. He made many discoveries in chemistry, introduced the term "gas" into chemical terminology, which he named by analogy with Greek chaos; chemically, he strove to find a remedy for all diseases; in general, he considered chemical processes to be the beginning of many phenomena. Refuting Aristotle, Galen and modern medical science, he created his own theory to explain the phenomena in a living organism. He admitted two immaterial principles in a person: 1) Archeus- the life principle, penetrating the whole body, governing nutrition, digestion of food and resisting disease; 2) Duumvirat- the beginning is reasonable, or the soul itself, which takes place not in the brain, but in the stomach and liver. He called himself Medicus per ignem, pointing to the source from which he wanted to draw his universal medicine.
Van Helmont's experience is known when he took 200 pounds of dry soil and a willow branch weighing 5 pounds, and grew it, watered only with rainwater. The willow weight after 5 years was 164 pounds and the weight of the earth was reduced by only 2 ounces. Van Helmont mistakenly concluded that the material from which the tree was formed came from the water used for irrigation.
Digestion study
Van Helmont paid a lot of attention to digestion issues. In its Ortus Medicinae he argues with the views that are modern for him, according to which digestion occurs due to the heat of the body and asks how then digestion occurs in cold-blooded animals? His own opinion was that digestion is a chemical reaction going on inside the body, for example, inside the stomach, in which a chemical reagent, which he called "an enzyme" (from lat. fermentum"fermentation"). Thus, van Helmont came close to the modern understanding of the role of enzymes in digestion. Van Helmont also proposed and described six different stages of digestion.
Van Helmont or Hooke?
For a long time it was believed that the portrait, published on July 3, 1939 in Time magazine, belongs to the English naturalist Robert Hooke (- years). Lisa Jardine en even put it on the cover of her book about Gooke. However, later researchers came to the conclusion that the portrait depicts van Helmont.
From the works of van Helmont
- Alphabeti vere Naturalis Hebraici brevissima Delineato (A Brief Description of the Genuine Natural Alphabet of the Hebrews), 1667
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Excerpt from Helmont, Jan Baptista van
- Yes, yes, with the thunder! - repeated approvingly in the back rows.The crowd went up to a large table, at which, in uniforms, in ribbons, gray-haired, bald, sat seventy-year-old nobles, old men, whom Pierre had seen almost all of them in their homes with fools and in clubs beyond Boston. The crowd approached the table, humming incessantly. One after another, and sometimes two together, pressed against the high backs of chairs by an overlapping crowd, spoke the orators. Those who stood behind noticed what the orator who spoke did not finish, and rushed to say this missing. Others, in this heat and crampedness, rummaged in their heads, if there was any thought, and was in a hurry to speak it. The old nobles, familiar to Pierre, sat and looked back at one or the other, and the expression of most of them only said that they were very hot. Pierre, however, felt agitated, and the general feeling of wanting to show that we didn’t care, expressed more in the sounds and expressions of faces than in the sense of speeches, was communicated to him as well. He did not renounce his thoughts, but felt guilty for something and wanted to justify himself.
“I only said that it would be more convenient for us to make donations when we know what the need is,” he said, trying to shout down other voices.
One nearest old man looked back at him, but was immediately distracted by a shout that began on the other side of the table.
- Yes, Moscow will be commissioned! She will be a redeemer! One shouted.
- He is the enemy of humanity! Shouted another. - Let me speak ... Gentlemen, you are crushing me ...
At that time, Count Rostopchin entered with quick steps in front of the crowd of nobles parted, in a general's uniform, with a ribbon over his shoulder, with his chin protruding and quick eyes.
“The Emperor will be here now,” said Rostopchin, “I’ve just come from there. I believe that in the position in which we are, there is nothing much to judge. The sovereign deigned to gather us and the merchants, - said Count Rostopchin. “Millions will flow from there (he pointed to the merchants' hall), and our business is to deploy the militia and not spare ourselves… This is the least we can do!
Conferences began between some of the nobles who were sitting at the table. The entire meeting was more than quiet. It even seemed sad when, after all the previous noise, one could hear the old voices one by one: “I agree,” the other, for a change, “I am of the same opinion,” etc.
The secretary was ordered to write a decree of the Moscow nobility that Muscovites, like the residents of Smolensk, donate ten people from a thousand and full uniforms. The sitting gentlemen got up, as if relieved, rattled their chairs and walked across the hall to stretch their legs, taking someone by the arm and talking.
- Sovereign! Sovereign! - suddenly spread through the halls, and the whole crowd rushed to the exit.
Along a wide path, between the wall of nobles, the emperor walked into the hall. All faces showed respectful and frightened curiosity. Pierre stood quite far away and could not quite hear the emperor's speech. He understood only by the fact that he had heard that the sovereign was talking about the danger in which the state was, and about the hopes that he pinned on the Moscow nobility. The sovereign was answered by another voice, announcing the decree of the nobility that had just taken place.
- Gentlemen! - said the trembling voice of the sovereign; the crowd rustled and calmed down again, and Pierre clearly heard the so pleasantly human and touched voice of the sovereign, who said: “I have never doubted the zeal of the Russian nobility. But on this day it exceeded my expectations. Thank you on behalf of the fatherland. Gentlemen, let's act - time is the most precious thing ...
The sovereign fell silent, the crowd began to crowd around him, and enthusiastic exclamations were heard from all sides.
“Yes, the most precious thing… the royal word,” the voice of Ilya Andreich, who had not heard anything, but understood everything in his own way, was sobbing from behind.
From the hall of the nobility, the sovereign went into the hall of the merchants. He stayed there for about ten minutes. Pierre, among others, saw the sovereign leaving the hall of the merchants with tears of affection in his eyes. As they later learned, the sovereign had just begun his speech to the merchants, when tears gushed from his eyes, and he finished it in a trembling voice. When Pierre saw the emperor, he went out, accompanied by two merchants. One was familiar to Pierre, a fat tax farmer, the other a head, with a thin, narrow-bearded, yellow face. They both cried. The thin man had tears, but the fat tax farmer sobbed like a child, and kept repeating:
- Take life and property, your majesty!
Pierre felt nothing at that moment, except the desire to show that he did not care for everything and that he was ready to sacrifice everything. As a reproach, he saw his speech with a constitutional direction; he looked for an opportunity to make amends. Upon learning that Count Mamonov was donating the regiment, Bezukhov immediately announced to Count Rostopchin that he was giving a thousand people and their maintenance.
Old man Rostov could not tell his wife what happened without tears, and immediately agreed to Petya's request and went to write it down himself.
The emperor left the next day. All the assembled nobles took off their uniforms, settled again in their houses and clubs and, grunting, gave orders to the governors about the militia, and wondered what they had done.
Napoleon began a war with Russia because he could not help but come to Dresden, could not help but be overwhelmed by honors, could not help but don a Polish uniform, not succumb to the adventurous impression of a June morning, could not refrain from a flash of anger in the presence of Kurakin and then Balashev.
HELMONT, Helmont Jan Baptist van (according to various sources, 1577-79, Brussels - 12/30/1644, Vilvoorde, near Brussels), Dutch naturalist and physician. From the age of 17 he studied philosophy, natural science and medicine at the University of Leuven in the province of Brabant (MD, 1599). Traveled throughout Europe (1600-09), then settled in Vilvoorde and engaged in experimental research.
One of the outstanding representatives of iatrochemistry. He considered chemical processes to be the beginning of many phenomena. He introduced the concept of an enzyme as a substance responsible for fermentation processes (beer, juices), and assumed the presence of such substances in all organs and "juices" of living organisms. Believing that gastric acid plays a decisive role in digestion, the disturbances of which underlie many diseases, he suggested treating them with alkalis. Some of Helmont's ideas anticipated the important ideas of medicine of the 19-20th century (the doctrine of enzymes, the concept of a close functional connection of individual organs in a single organism). The theory of fermentation was further developed by the followers of Helmont and became the starting point of the theory of biocatalysis. Helmont described a number of diseases, including pleurisy, bronchial asthma. The cause of gout was considered to be excessive formation of acids, which causes impaired renal function and the deposition of salts in the joints; similarly explained the formation of kidney stones. Described the mineral springs of the Spa resort.
Dealt with the question of the true constituent parts (principles) of complex bodies. Rejecting the elements of Aristotle and the beginnings of alchemists, he believed that only those bodies can be recognized as simple, which are obtained as a result of the decomposition of complex bodies. On a number of issues, he took the position of alchemy: he considered, for example, it is possible to transform base metals (mercury, lead, etc.) into gold with the help of the “philosopher’s stone”. He adhered to the vitalistic ideas that life processes are regulated by special "spirits of life" ("archaea").
He was a supporter of the quantitative experiment. He assumed that water is an elementary body of organic substances and, for verification, carried out studies with weighing a willow shoot planted in a pot. The works, which turned out to be one of the first examples of quantitative analysis in the history of science, laid the foundation for the aquatic theory of plant nutrition.
He introduced the term "gas" into science (1620). Established the existence and described the gas (as it turned out later, carbon dioxide), formed during the combustion of charcoal, fermentation and the action of acids on limestone (1620). He pointed out the differences between gases and vapors that condense into a liquid upon cooling.
Cit .: Ortus medicinae. Amst., 1648. Vol. 1-2.
Lit .: Spiess G. A. J. B. van Helmont's System der Medizin ... Fr./M., 1840; Menshutkin B.N. Chemistry and ways of its development. M .; L., 1937.
IN AND. Borodulin (medicine), I.E. Lubnina.
VAN HELMONT (van Helmont), Jan Baptist
Dutch naturalist, physician and mystic theosophist Jan Baptist van Helmont was born in Brussels; in Louvain, he received a theological and medical education and, in particular, studied the "Kabbalah". Having become a doctor and having carefully studied the writings of Paracelsus and other iatrochemists, Van Helmont embarked on a ten-year journey across Europe to improve his knowledge in medicine. He visited the Alps, Switzerland, Spain, France and England and in 1609 received his M.D. Then he settled in Vilvoorde near Brussels and until the end of his life he was engaged in research in his own home laboratory. Van Helmont owns many works. The main ones were published by his son Francis-Mercury only after the death of the scientist in 1646, and later, in 1682, the complete works of Van Helmont ("Opera omnia") were published.
Van Helmont is one of the leading representatives of iatrochemistry. He was one of the first scientists to pose the question of the true simple constituent parts of complex bodies. Questioning the Aristotelian elements and principles of alchemists on the grounds that their presence cannot be found in the composition of most bodies, Van Helmont proposed to consider as simple bodies only those that can be distinguished during the decomposition of complex bodies. So, since water was always released during the decomposition of plant and animal substances, Van Helmont considered it a simple body and the main component of complex bodies. In search of other simple bodies, Van Helmont experimented a lot with metals. Van Helmont's experiment with silver is quite remarkable: a precisely weighed amount of silver was dissolved in strong vodka (nitric acid), the solution was evaporated, the residue was calcined and fused. The weight of the silver obtained was exactly the same as the original. "Silver does not lose its essence because it was dissolved in strong vodka, although it disappeared from the eyes and became completely transparent."- wrote Van Helmont. This experience is also interesting as one of the first examples of a quantitative study of the phenomenon.
Van Helmont was the first to carry out experimental studies of the process of plant nutrition, which became the basis for the so-called. aquatic theory of plant nutrition. Having grown a willow branch in a barrel, he found that an almost 40-fold increase in its weight in 5 years was not accompanied by any significant decrease in the weight of the earth. Despite the fallacy, this theory, which viewed plant life as a process that occurs only under the influence of material forces, dealt a blow to the religious-idealistic worldview.
Van Helmont was one of the first to use silver nitrate (lapis) to cauterize wounds, inflammations and warts. He believed that gastric acid plays a decisive role in digestion, and therefore proposed to treat diseases caused by an excess of acids in the stomach with alkalis. Introduced the term "gas" into chemistry. On a number of issues, he stood on the classical positions of alchemy, considering, for example, the possibility of converting base metals (mercury, lead, etc.) into gold with the help of the so-called. philosopher's stone. Van Helmont adhered to the vitalistic concept that life processes are supposedly regulated by special "spirits of life" ("archaea"); recognized the possibility of spontaneous generation.
Plants do not extract biomass from the soil.
The color of life on our planet is green, because green chlorophyll molecules in plants, which form the basis of all life and convert the energy of incident sunlight into the materials of which living things are built. One can only be surprised that in the past centuries people were almost not interested in the mechanism of the transformation of this energy - the process that we now call photosynthesis. It so happened that the patterns of movement of planets and stars became clear to people long before they had the slightest idea about the role of grass under their feet.
The first serious study of the mechanism of plant growth was carried out by the Flemish aristocrat Jan Baptist Van Helmont. Before planting a tree in a pot, he weighed the earth in it. For several years, Van Helmont watered the tree, and then weighed the tree and earth again and found that the weight of the tree increased by 74 kg, while the weight of the soil decreased by about one hundred grams. It became clear that the soil is not the source of the material for building a growing tree.
In fact, Van Helmont drew the wrong conclusion from his discovery - he claimed that the extra weight came from water. It was two centuries before the idea that the carbon in a tree is formed by the conversion of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and another century before the molecular mechanism of photosynthesis was understood. Nevertheless, Van Helmont left no one in doubt that the material we call biomass does not come from the soil, but from another source, and this discovery later became the basis of our ideas about the role of plants.
Jan Baptista Van Helmont, 1579-1644
Flemish physician and chemist. Born in Brussels into an aristocratic family. He studied medicine and chemistry at the Catholic University of Louvain, but did not receive a degree, but took up his own research. He first used the word "gas" to describe the state of matter and established four types of gases - carbon monoxide (carbon monoxide), carbon dioxide (carbon dioxide), nitrous oxide (laughing gas) and methane known to us today. At the time of Van Helmont, chemistry was a young and rapidly developing science, in which the influence of alchemy was still strongly felt. Although he did not have immeasurable reverence for the ancient teachings that were considered inviolable, he still believed in the Philosopher's Stone. However, his experience with the growing willow tree shows that Van Helmont understood the value of the experiment. And on one occasion he even came into conflict with the church, questioning the widespread belief that a wound can be healed by healing the weapon that inflicted it.
