SENNERTUS, DANIEL, called by some the German Galen, was an eminent physician, and was born at Breslau in 1572. In 1593 he was sent to Württemberg, where he made great progress in philosophy and in physic. He
visited the universities of Leipzig, Jena, Frankfurt-on-the-Oder, and Berlin; but he soon returned to Württemberg, 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 Württemberg in 1637. He sought to reconcile the doctrines of Paracelsus with those of Galen, and seems, in all respects, to have been in advance of his age. 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 well he might. The writings of Sennertus, a number of which were translated into English, were published in folio at Venice in 1645, and subsequently at Lyon and at Paris.