BECCARI, JACOPO BARTOLOMEO

BECCARI, JACOPO BARTOLOMEO. - Born in Bologna in 1692, died in 1766. Chemist and physiologist, he taught chemistry at the University of Bologna; he was the first professor of this subject in Italy. Of great importance are his studies on the so-called “phosphors” (Bologna stone or calcium sulfide), on phosphorescence, and on the darkening of silver chloride by light, which was the starting point for photography, and for which Edmond Becquerel cites him in his work *La luce, le sue cause ed i suoi effetti* (Paris 1868). He discovered the gluten of wheat flour; he also worked on the structure of flames, the analysis of mineral waters, and other chemical topics. “We must bow to this name,” writes Francesco Selmi, “since it can be said that chemistry began to shed some rays of true light from his work.” It is noteworthy to observe the occasion that led him to engage as a physiologist in the study of fasting and problems of human metabolism. “Cardinal Lambertini, who later became Pope Benedict XIV, while composing a work on the beatification and canonization of those who died in the opinion of holiness, wished to know whether abstaining for a long time from all kinds of food and drink without dying was a natural phenomenon or a miracle” (F. Selmi), and Beccari, through his experimental research, provided an answer that, for those times—when the energetic value of food substances was still unknown—was both cautious and exhaustive.