[BOOK OF SECRETS].

£4,500 · Offered by Sokol Books

A most interesting ms collection of excerpts from alchemical texts, produced as a reference work by some physician or alchemist c.1700. A witness to the persistent interest in alchemy, natural magic and Paracelsian medical chemistry in C18 France (Debus, p.36). Produced by a physician, apothecary, or scholar of alchemy, this ms is a copy, with minor variations, of Book IV, Part II, of the Sieur de Sainte-Hilaire s Les remedes des maladies du corps humain (first ed., 1685). The Sieur de Sainte-Hilaire was likely related to Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1772-1844), a precursor of evolutionary-developmental biology. The section, called De la Preparation des vertus amp; usages des Arcanes, ou plus rares Secrets de Medecine , is largely based on Paracelsus theories. Saint-Hilaire mentioned that this section had been written by an anonymous, very capable alchemist. It is an expanded version, with variations, of the Arcana Paracelsi by Van Helmont, who considered Paracelsus the vindicator and healer of almost all diseases (Hedesan, p.176). (Van Helmont s liquor alkahest is twice mentioned and attributed to him.) The chapters discuss his precipit é diaphoretique , a panacea from fleurs de mars argent érs , poudre bezoardique dor ée , Llull s tincture, panac ée aperitive , Sel volatile des Plantes , the stomachique universel , the petit precipit é de Paracelse , alkalis volatile (made from mercury), Van Helmont s anti-hydropique remedies, mineral mumia, and Paracelsus baume de suye

• Binding: Hardcover

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