PLATTES, Gabriel.

by Gabriel Plattes

£9,750 · Offered by Sokol Books

.Two important works of alchemy and natural science, both in their first editions and designed to be complementary. Gabriel Plattes (c.1600 44) was part of Samuel Hartlib s circle of social and agricultural reformers, conducting his own experiments to improve agricultural practice in England. Under the guide of husbandry and economic schemes, Plattes developed a natural philosophy that emerges throughout all his works. On a first reading, Discovery of Subterraneall Treasure discloses a series of experiments with metals and transmutations, while in fact it establishes the foundations of Plattes s alchemical theory of matter. A Discovery of Infinite Treasure [...] on the one hand, discusses Plattes s cosmology and asserts that all bodies in the universe are made of essentially the same matter, but, on the other hand, it provides accounts of technologies that may be used to improve the soil (assaying, fertilization, enclosure) based on a theory of plant nutrition and cyclic chemical change (Encycl., p.1643). These first two books published by Plattes were famous and highly appreciated in England and abroad, Marin Mersenne even expressing his intention to translate Plattes books in French. The first work beings with a discussion of the globe, as made of earth and water, and the causes of their stability. It proceeds to analyse the importance of agricultural tools and how traditional husbandry techniques will produce in length of time nothing but poverty and beggary . The remainde

• Binding: Hardcover

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