Frederick Slare facts for kids

Frederick Slare (born around 1647, died 1727) was an important English doctor and chemist. He was a student and follower of famous scientists like Robert Boyle and Thomas Sydenham. Slare was known for his experiments and for helping people through his medical practice and charity work.

Early Life and Education

Frederick Slare was born in a village called Old, Northamptonshire in England. His father, Frederick Schloer, was a German church leader there. Young Frederick studied at the University of Heidelberg in Germany starting in 1666. After his studies, he lived with a relative of his father, Theodore Haak. Slare began working as a laboratory assistant for the famous scientist Robert Boyle. By 1673, he was already writing letters to another well-known thinker, Gottfried Leibniz.

A Scientist at the Royal Society

On July 3, 1679, Robert Hooke introduced Slare to the Royal Society. This was a famous group of scientists in London. Slare showed them experiments about tiny living things called spermatozoa, which had just been discovered by Leeuwenhoek. He was accepted as a member (called a Fellow) of the Royal Society on December 16, 1680. He later joined the council, which helps run the society.

From early 1683, Slare and Edward Tyson became "Curators of Experiments" for the Royal Society. This meant they were in charge of performing and showing scientific experiments. Slare was very active in this role for about a year and a half.

Slare also continued his medical studies. He earned his M.D. (Doctor of Medicine) degree from the University of Utrecht in 1679. He received another M.D. from Oxford in 1680. He joined the Royal College of Physicians in 1681 and became a Fellow in 1685. He held several important positions within the college until his death.

Frederick Slare had a very busy medical practice in London. In 1709, he helped organize support for German people who were moving to England from a region called the Electoral Palatinate. He worked with others like John Tribbeko and John Chamberlayne to assist them. Slare later moved out of London to the countryside before 1715.

Helping Others and Later Life

Frederick Slare was also interested in religion and helping others. He was one of the people who helped start two important charity groups: the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. He was also a friend of the doctor John Floyer.

In 1714 and 1715, Slare gave money to support two churches. He was also a "Commissioner for Relieving poor Proselytes." This group, started by Henry Newman of the SPCK, helped immigrants who had converted from Catholicism.

Slare was friends with Anthony William Boehm, who died at Slare's home in Greenwich in 1722. Slare also helped provide information for a book about a Protestant traveler named Heinrich Wilhelm Ludolf. Slare supported a project to translate the New Testament into modern Greek. He worked on this with Henry Hoare and Sir John Philipps, 4th Baronet. Slare, Hoare, and Francis Lee were also leaders in starting charity schools in England. They were in close contact with August Hermann Francke and the Pietists, who were a religious movement focused on personal devotion.

Frederick Slare passed away on September 12, 1727, when he was almost 80 years old. He was buried in the cemetery next to Greenwich churchyard.

His Scientific Discoveries and Work

Frederick Slare often attended meetings of the Royal Society. He showed many experiments there, including some about phosphorus. Phosphorus was a chemical he had studied while working for Robert Boyle. Slare, along with Ambrose Godfrey, prepared a type of phosphorus called white phosphorus.

Slare also worked with other scientists like Thomas Henshaw, Hooke, and Christopher Wren. They studied the findings of Willem ten Rhijne about Asian medicine, which were presented to the Royal Society in 1682. A book about acupuncture and other topics was then printed in London. Slare even tried a traditional Chinese medicine called moxibustion, using a plant called Artemisia vulgaris.

Slare also helped translate old manuscripts for a book about fish called De Historia Piscium (1686). This book was for the naturalists John Ray and Francis Willughby.

Experiments with Blood and Medicine

Slare showed that common salt is present in blood. He also supported some ideas from John Mayow and Richard Lower about how blood changes color when it's exposed to air. He repeated experiments by Robert Boyle involving certain copper solutions that absorbed air and changed color. Slare was interested in chemical ideas that were different from some popular theories of his time. He was an early supporter of the idea of contagium animatum. This was an early theory that diseases were caused by tiny living things, similar to what we now call pathogens.

In 1713, Slare examined some calculi (which are like stones that can form in the body). He showed that they were not chemically like tartar, which was a common belief. He had been studying these "stones" since the 1670s and 1680s.

In 1715, he published a pamphlet called Experiments … upon Oriental and other Bezoar-Stones. In this work, he argued against the idea that "bezoar stones" (stones found in animals) had magical healing powers. He gave examples of times they didn't work and showed that certain chemicals didn't affect them. Slare suggested using chalk as a remedy for indigestion instead of "Gascoin's powder," which used bezoar stones.

In the same pamphlet, Slare also defended sugar against the ideas of Thomas Willis. Willis had some views on diabetes that Slare disagreed with. Slare praised sugar for its many uses and supported the sugar trade. He even used the sweet taste of breast milk to argue that sugar was good for children. He also promoted eating bread and hot drinks like tea, coffee, or chocolate for breakfast.

Water Cures and Inoculation

Slare was a supporter of balneotherapy, which is the use of baths and mineral waters for health. He praised the waters of Bath, Somerset. In 1713, he showed that the mineral waters from Bad Pyrmont in Germany were not acidic. In 1717, he reprinted his paper with more information as An Account … of the Pyrmont Waters. He dedicated this book to Sir Isaac Newton and John Bateman. Slare's work helped confirm that these healing waters were alkaline.

In 1725, Slare wrote an appendix to another book where he defended inoculation. Inoculation was a new way to prevent smallpox that had been introduced in England in 1721. He mentioned that he had cared for a son of Sir John Vanbrugh after the boy had been inoculated in 1723.