Berthelot, PIERRE EUGÈNE MARCELLIN, an eminent French chemist, born at Paris, October 25, 1827, at an early age made a special study of acids and fermentation, and was appointed professor of Organic Chemistry in the École de Pharmacie in 1859, and in the Collège de France in 1865. In 1876 he was named inspector-general of education, in 1886-87 he was minister of public instruction, and in 1895 foreign minister. His labours to reproduce the substances which enter into the composition of organic bodies, besides opening up a new field of research, have directly benefited more than one industry. His early studies established the theory of polyatomic alcohols (see ALCOHOL), and he has devoted much attention to explosives; whilst, more recently, his observations of the heat-phenomena which produce chemical combinations have laid the foundation of thermo-chemistry.
Among his works are Chimie Organique (1860), La Poudre et les Matières Explosives (1872), La Synthèse Chimique (3d ed. 1881), Mécanique Chimique (1879), Les Origines de l'Alchimie (1885), Science et Philosophie (1886), and Science et Réligion (1897). And see the Correspondance between him and Renan (1898).