Sprengel was born at
Boldekow in
Pomerania, and he is considered of
German nationality. His father, a
clergyman, provided him with a thorough
education of wide scope; as boy he distinguished himself as a linguist, in
Latin and
Greek, and also
Arabic; his uncle,
Christian Konrad Sprengel (1750–1816), is remembered for his studies in the
fertilization of
flowers by
insects – a subject in which he reached conclusions many years ahead of his time. Spreng. appeared as an
author at the age of fourteen,
publishing a small work called
Anleitung zur Botanik für Frauenzimmer ("guide to botany for
women") in 1780. In 1784, he began to study
theology and
medicine at the
university of Halle, but soon relinquished the former. He graduated in
medicine in 1787. In 1789, he was appointed extraordinary
professor of medicine in his
alma mater, and in 1795 was promoted to be ordinary professor. He devoted much of his time to medical work and to investigations into the
history of medicine; and he held a foremost rank as an original investigator both in medicine and
botany. Among the more important of his many services to the latter science was the part he took in awakening and stimulating
microscopic investigation into the anatomy of the tissues of the higher
plants, though defective
microscopic appliances rendered the conclusions arrived at by himself untrustworthy. He also made many improvements in the details of both the
Linnaean and the natural systems of
classification. Sprengel became correspondent of the
Royal Institute of the Netherlands in 1809, he was elected a foreign member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1810. == Selected publications ==