Gmelin, John George

, a physician and eminent botanist, was born at Tubingen August 12, 1709. He was distinguished by his diligence and early attainments at the school and university of Tubingen, and in 1727, took the degree of doctor of physic, and went to Petersburgh, where, in 1729, he was elected one of the members of the academy, and in 1731 was appointed professor of chemistry and natural history. In 1733 he was selected for the department of natural history, in a commission formed by the Russian government, for the purpose of exploring the boundaries of Siberia; and set out on the 19th of August, with G. F. Muller, and Louis de l'Isle de la Croyere, and a party of twenty-eight persons, consisting of draughtsmen, miners, hunters, land surveyors, and twelve soldiers, with a serjeant and drummer. On his return to Petersburgh in 1743, he resumed the offices which he had before filled. In the year 1749 he entered upon a new professorship, to which he had been appointed, while on a visit to Tubingen, but died of a fever in May, 1755. He published, “Flora Siberica, seu Historia Plantarum Siberise,” Petersburgh, 1747, 1749, in four parts, 4to, with plates: and, in German, “Travels through Siberia between the years 1733 and 1743,” Gottingen, 1751, 1752, in four parts, 8vo, with plates. ²