The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Pfaff, Christian Heinrich

PFAFF, pfäf, Christian Heinrich, German phyiscian and physicist: b. Stuttgart, 2 March 1772; d. Kiel, Holstein, 24 April 1852. His interest in electricity was first awakened by the celebrated experimenter Gross. He was graduated as a physician at Stuttgart in 1793 and then went to Göttingen, where he published the results of his galvanic inquiries in &lsquo;Ueber thierische Electricität und Reizbarkeit.&rsquo; In 1797 he became an extraordinary professor at Kiel and in 1801 was made professor of chemistry, physics and medicine there with rank at the same time as a member of the medical faculty. He then directed his attention particularly to pharmaceutical chemistry, and was thus led to the composition of his most important work, &lsquo;System der Materia Medica nach chemischen Principien&rsquo; (1808-24). Among other writings of his are &lsquo;Handbuch der analytischen Chemie&rsquo; (1824-25); &lsquo;Ueber und gegen den thierichen Magnetismus&rsquo; (1807); &lsquo;Der Electromagnetismus&rsquo; (1824); &lsquo;Parallele der chemischen Theorie und der voltaischen Contacttheorie der galvanischen Kette&rsquo; (1845).