Valerius Cordus

Life

The son of Euricius Cordus ( Heinrich crack, 1486-1535 ) earned the bachelor 1531 at the University of Marburg and then studied in Leipzig. From 1539, he studied ( among others Philipp Melanchthon ) at the University of Wittenberg medicine and botany and subsequently taught there as a professor.

He led notable local floristic studies in central and southern Germany, and described numerous new, some rare plant species. He was an excellent observer and inter alia, the propagation of ferns had already clearly recognized. About the Strichfarn Asplenium trichomanes he writes: " It produces neither flower nor seed, but still propagates, by adhering to the underside of leaves powder, like all other species of ferns, too."

At the suggestion of his uncle, pharmacist John Ralla he wrote the first statutory Pharmacopoeia north of the Alps under the title Dispensatorium pharma corum omnium, quae in usu sunt Potissimum ( Nuremberg, 1535). In another work, he describes the distillation of herbs and acids: Annotationes in Pedacei Dioscorides Materia Medica liber de quinque. Liber de artificiosis extractionibus. Liber II de destillatione oleorum ( Nuremberg, 1540).

Another work, Stirpium descriptionis liber quintus (Strasbourg 1561) remained a torso because of his early death, and was published posthumously by Conrad Gesner.

Cordus is attributed to the initial production of diethyl ether, others point to his uncle John Ralla this achievement.

As of 1542, he went on study trips to Italy, where he died 29 years old at the consequences of an accident.

Ehrentaxon

Charles Plumier named him and his father Euricius Cordus in honor of the genus Cordia of the plant family of the Borage Family ( Boraginaceae ). Linnaeus later took the name.

Writings

• Valerii Cordi Dispensatorium immersive, pharmaceutical Corum conficiendorum ratio. Maire, Lugduni Batavorum 1637 ( digitized )