SENNERTUS, DANIEL, an eminent physician, was born in 1572, at Breslau. In 1593 he was sent to Wittemberg, where he made great progress in philosophy and in physic. He visited the universities of Leipzig, Iena, Frankfurt on the Oder, and Berlin; but he soon returned to Wittemberg, where he was promoted to the degree of doctor of physic, and soon afterwards to a professorship in the same faculty. He was the first who introduced the study of chemistry into that university; and he gained a great reputation by his works and practice. He died of the plague at Wittemberg in 1637. By contradicting the ancients, he made himself enemies. He thought the seed of all living creatures animated, and that the soul of this seed produced organization.
He was accused of impiety for asserting that the souls of beasts are not material, for this was affirmed to be the same thing with asserting that they are immortal; but he rejected this consequence, as he well might do.