Alexander Marcet collection

The collection comprises of correspondence by Marcet to the Arctic explorer John Franklin.

Alexander John Gaspard Marcet was born in 1770 in Geneva. He was educated at Edinburgh University, graduating with an MD in 1797 and admitted a licentiate of the College of Physicians in 1799. In 1804, he was appointed physician at Guy's Hospital in London, where he specialised in medical chemistry, serving briefly at the temporary military hospital at Portsmouth in 1809. He became a lecturer in chemistry at Guy's Hospital, retiring in 1819 to live in Geneva where he was appointed honorary professor of chemistry. He died on a visit to England on 19 October 1822.

The correspondence with Franklin is arranged chronologically

By appointment.

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Descriptions compiled by N. Boneham, Assistant Archivist with assistance from R. Stancombe and reference to Arctic, exploration and development c500 BC to 1915, an encyclopaedia by Clive Holland, Garland Publishing, London (1994) ISBN number 0824076486 and Exploring Polar Frontiers, a historical encyclopaedia by William Mills, San Diego and Oxford, 2003 and Dictionary of National Biography volume 36, Smith Elder & Co. London (1893)

Clive Holland Manuscripts in the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, England - a catalogue, Garland Publishing New York and London (1982) ISBN 0824093941.

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