GMELIN, JOHN GEORGE, public lecturer on botany and physics at Tübingen, member of the Royal Society of Göttingen, and also of the Academy of Sciences at Stockholm, was born on the 12th of August 1709, at Tübingen, where his father was an apothecary. Such was his diligence whilst at school, that he was qualified to attend the academical lectures at the age of fourteen, and was created doctor of medicine when only nineteen. About this time he paid a visit to the metropolis of the Russian empire, that he might have the pleasure of seeing some of his former teachers; and there he became acquainted with Blumentrost, director of the academy, who introduced him to the meetings of the members, and procured for him a pension. At Petersburg he was so much esteemed, that when he intimated a wish, in 1729, to return to Tübingen, he was honoured with a place amongst the regular members of the academy, and chosen professor of chemistry and natural history in the year 1731. In order to carry into execution a plan which had been formed by Peter the Great, for exploring a passage to China and Japan along the coast of the Russian empire, Gmelin was selected, along with two others, as properly qualified for that undertaking, which had also for its object to ascertain the boundaries of Siberia. The department of natural history was assigned to him; and he had with him and his companions, six students, two draftsmen, two hunters, two miners, four land-surveyors, and twelve soldiers, with a sergeant and drummer. They began their journey on the 19th of August 1733; and in 1736 Steller and a painter joined their society, to assist Gmelin in his arduous labours. By exploring Kamtschatka, they hoped to accomplish their mission in a satisfactory manner, for which purpose Steller proceeded to this place, whilst the rest of the party continued their travels through Siberia. In February 1743 Gmelin returned to Petersburg in safety, after a dangerous journey which lasted nine years and a half, but proved of the utmost importance to various branches of science. He resumed the offices which he had filled before; and having paid a visit, in 1747, to his native country, he was chosen professor, whilst absent, in the room of Bachmeister. But in May 1755, he was seized with a violent fever, which put a period to his valuable life, in the forty-fifth year of his age. He was undoubtedly one of the most eminent botanists of the eighteenth century, and has rendered his name immortal by his Flora Siberica, seu historia plantarum Siberiae, in four parts, large quarto. He determined the boundaries between Europe and Asia, which every geographer has adopted since his day. Through all his works the traces of great modesty, a sacred regard to truth, and the most extensive knowledge of nature, are remarkably conspicuous.