James,
No biography on Gmelin (I think he was a German chemist). There is a great
web site with shoprt bios of a lot of the names in the shell world (heavy on
the European side) but I can't seem to find it. As for how to pronounce
Gmelin, pronounce it "may-lin" with the accent on the first syllable. If
you want to try swallowing the "G" as you almost pronounce it, go ahead.
But it is easier to just ignore the darn thing altogether.
Tom Eichhorst in New Mexico, USA