Ephraim Seehl

Ephraim Reinhold Seehl (English: Ephraim Rinhold Seehl) (died after1790)[1] was an apothecary and chemist of German background, born in Sweden. He was known as a manufacturer of green vitriol.[2]

Life

He was the son of Captain Reinhold Seehl (d. 1721), a German volunteer who worked his way through the ranks in the Swedish army. He settled in England and was naturalised as a British subject by Act of Parliament introduced in 1783 (23 Geo c. 8).[3]

Seehl occurs in a London subscription list in 1757.[4] He was one of just three people with addresses in Poplar and Blackwall to be found in Thomas Mortimer's Universal Director of 1763. There his entry reads "Seehl, Ephraim Rinhold, Copperas Merchant, Blackwall; or at the Bank Coffee-house, Threadneedlestreet." At this time he was leasing the Copperas Works in Bromley from his brother-in-law, the shipwright John Perry of Blackwall Yard.[5][6]

Seehl traveled widely in Europe. He was a subscriber to Mineralogia Cornubiensis (1778) by William Pryce. His autograph book shows that he was almost certainly a Rosicrucian.

Seehl's will was proved 12 September 1783.[1]

Publications

Seehl worked on the compounds of sulphur. The distinction of its acids, and sulphur dioxide, was not clarified at this point. The preparation of sulphuric acid was known by the beginning of the 17th century. With Augustus Sala, Nicolas Lemery and J. C. Bernhardt, Seehl is mentioned as one of those working on methods for its production.[7] The method of making it by heating sulphur with saltpetre has been attributed to him.[8]

Seehl published An Easy Method of Procuring the Volatile Acid of Sulphur in Philosophical Transactions in 1744.[9] It referred to the preparation of sulphurous acid.[10]

  • A new improvement in the art of making the true volatile spirit of sulphur (1744). Seehl was mentioned for this work in Johann Friedrich Gmelin's Geschichte der Chemie.[11]
  • A short treatise upon the art and mystery of making of copperas (1768)

References
  1. Wills Proved at Prerogative Court of Canterbury 12 September 1783, Ephraim Rinhold Seehl.
  2. William Pryce (1778). Mineralogia Cornubiensis; a Treatise on Minerals, Mines and Mining. - London, Phillips 1778. Phillips. p. 33.
  3. "House of Lords Journal Volume 36: February 1783 1-10". Journal of the House of Lords volume 36: 1779-1783. Institute of Historical Research. 1767–1830. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
  4. Emanuel Mendes da Costa (1757). A natural history of fossils. Printed for L. Davis and C. Reymers. p. viii.
  5. Hermione Hobhouse (General Editor) (1994). "Leamouth Road and Orchard Place: Individual wharves and sites". Survey of London: volumes 43 and 44: Poplar, Blackwall and Isle of Dogs. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
  6. Porter, Stephen (1994). Poplar, Blackwall and The Isle of Dogs. p. 662.
  7. "PDF" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
  8. Claus Priesner; Karin Figala (1 January 1998). Alchemie: Lexikon einer hermetischen Wissenschaft (in German). C.H.Beck. p. 116. ISBN 978-3-406-44106-6.
  9. Ephraim Rinhold Seehl, An Easy Method of Procuring the Volatile Acid of Sulphur, by Ephraim Rinhold Seehl; Addressed in a Letter to the President and Fellows of the Royal Society, Philosophical Transactions Vol. 43, (1744 - 1745), pp. 1-9. Published by: The Royal Society. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/104402
  10. Royal Society (Great Britain); Charles Hutton; George Shaw; Richard Pearson (1809). Philosophical Transactions (abridge) 1744-1749. and. p. ix.
  11. Johann Friedrich Gmelin (1798). Geschichte der Chemie : seit dem Wiederaufleben der Wissenschaften bis an das Ende des 18 Jehrhunderts... von Johann Friedrich Gmelin (in German). p. 557 note.
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