Michel Eugene Chevreul. Portrait of the French organic chemist Michel Eugene Chevreul (1786- 1889). A surgeon's son, Chevreul learned chemistry as assistant to Vauquelin, and by 1824 became Director of Dyeing at the Gobelin tapestry factory in Paris, France. His best known work is on animal fats and soap making; in 1825 he patented, with Gay-Lussac, a process for making an improved candle from crude stearic acid. Chevreul was the first to show that the urine of diabetics contained glucose. He also worked on organic analysis, the chemistry of drying oils (used in paints), waxes, natural dyes, theories of colour, and on the use of divining rods.