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Alchemy Academy archive
March 2006
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Subject: ACADEMY: Two alchemical periodicals
From: Adam McLean
Date: 1 March 2006

The Ritman Library has recently added a couple of
pages describing two early 20th century alchemical
periodicals.

Journal of the Alchemical Society
http://www.ritmanlibrary.nl/c/p/h/bel_18.html

Alchemistische Blätter
http://www.ritmanlibrary.nl/c/p/h/bel_19.html

Subject: ACADEMY: Utriusque cosmi historia
From: Michael Martin
Date: 4 March 2006

Is anyone aware of a facsimile version of Fludd's Utriusque Cosmi Historia?
I have been spending much time at the University of Michigan Special
Collections Library to study their copy, but their hours are not necessarily
mine!

I notice Kessinger has put out a book they call by the same title; but as it
is only forty-some pages long, I assume it is just excerpts, if not merely
illustrations.

All the best,

Michael Martin

Subject: ACADEMY: Utriusque cosmi historia
From: Peter Forshaw
Date: 4 March 2006

Dear Michael,

I don't know if it's any use, but Gallica has a work that sounds
like part Utriusque:

http://gallica.bnf.fr/

Auteur(s) : Fludd, Robert (1574-1637). Auteur du texte

Titre(s) : Étude du macrocosme [Texte imprimé] / Robert Fludd ;
annotée et trad. pour la première fois par Pierre Piobb...
Publication : Paris : H. Daragon, 1907
Description matérielle : XXII-293 p. ; in-8
Collection : Bibliothèque des sciences maudites
Comprend : I. Traité d'astrologie générale

You might like to check with Francois Quiviger at the Warburg Institute
to see whether they've digitised Francis Yates' personal copy yet ...
I think they were planning to make it available on pdf, but they might
not have found the time yet.

All the best,

Peter

Subject: ACADEMY: Utriusque cosmi historia
From: Louis Bourbonnais
Date: 4 March 2006

Dear Michael,

Frommann-holzboog are in preparation of such a quality edition:

http://www.frommann-holzboog.de

Fludd, Robert: Utriusque cosmi historia
Faksimile-Ausgabe der Erstausgabe Oppenheim/Frankfurt, Johann
Theodor de Bry, 1617-1621. Mit einer Einleitung von Wilhelm
Schmidt-Biggemann. Clavis Pansophiae. - CP 5,1-4. 4 Bände.
Ca. 1750 S. Zahlreiche Kupfertafeln. 21 x 30 cm. Ln.
Ca. EUR 1.780,- / sFr 3.098,-
ISBN 3-7728-1627-4
In Vorbereitung (nur Gesamtabnahme)
Robert Fludds (1574-1637) >Utriusque cosmi historia< ist ein
Schlüsselwerk der mystischen Naturphilosophie der Frühen Neuzeit.
Es ist eine Enzyklopädie aller Theorien, die in der Aufklärung als
abergläubisch und irrational aus dem Kanon der Wissenschaftlichkeit
ausgegrenzt wurden. Der Mediziner, Astrologe, Mathematiker und
Naturphilosoph Fludd entwirft darin eine Kosmologie, die den
Einfluß der Sterne auf das Weltgeschehen darlegt, die alle
menschlichen Künste und Techniken seiner Zeit detailliert abbildet,
beschreibt und in der Analogie zu ihren himmlischen Archetypen
erläutert. Die Illustrationen machen dieses Buch zur schönsten
Enzyklopädie der Frühen Neuzeit.

Yours,
Louis Bourbonnais

Subject: ACADEMY: Alchemy and the mechanization of nature
From: Jean-Yves Artero
Date: 19 March 2006

William R. Newman, Ruth Halls Professor in the Department of the History
and Philosophy of Science at Indiana University, wrote a new book
which is to be published on April, 1 2006:

Atoms and Alchemy: Chymistry and the Experimental Origins of the
Scientific Revolution (University of Chicago Press, 235pages,
ISBN 0226576973).

Here is a book description:

"Since the Enlightenment, alchemy has been viewed as a sort of
antiscience, disparaged by many historians as a for of lunacy that
impeded the development of rational chemistry.
In 'Atoms and Alchemy', William R. Newman exposes the speciousness
of these views and challenges widely held beliefs about the origins
of the Scientific Revolution.
Tracing the alchemical roots of Robert Boyle's famous mechanical
philosophy, Newman shows that alchemy contributed to the
mechanization of nature, a movement that lay at the very heart of
scientific discovery.
Boyle and his predecessors - figures like the mysterious medieval
Geber or the Lutheran professor Daniel Sennert - provided convincing
experimental proof that matter is made up of enduring particles at the
microlevel.
At the same time, Newman argues that alchemists created the
operational criterion of an "atomic" element as the last point of analysis,
thereby contributing a key feature to the development of later chemistry."

William R. Newman is the author of 'Gehennical Fire, and Promethean
Ambitions', as well as the coauthor of 'Alchemy Tried in the Fire', which
was awarded the 2005 Pfizer Price for the best book on the History of Science.
All above mentionned books were published by the University of Chicago
Press.

With best regards,

Jean

Subject: ACADEMY: Alchemical transmutation stories in the 18th Century
From: Adam McLean
Date: 19 March 2006

Most of us will be well aware of the rush of transmutation stories
of people turning base metal into gold that emerged in the late
16th and early 17th centuries, but I was recently glancing at
Gueldenfalk's 'Sammlung von mehr als hundert wahrhaften
Transmutations-geschichten' Frankfurt, 1784 and I became
so aware that these stories persisted well into the 18th century.

Here are just a few of the more major entries in Gueldenfalk's list.

3. 28 April 1781 - Cagliostro.
4. English adept Rollenson. 1783.
18. Herr "S". 1760.
24. 1777
40. Frau Graefin von Erbach, 1715.
42. 1726.
48. 1730. Herr von Koppenstein.
50. 1750. Focet in Frankfurt.
53. Botticher. 1733.
54. Dippels. 1707. Cajetani.
55. Cajetani. 1705.
68. 1755. Homberg in the house of the landowner 'guldenfalk'.
70. 1783. Apothecary Horter.
75. 1782. Price.
76. 1766. J. Gottfried Jugels.
79. 1731. Jesse Abraham.
81. 1761. Stahls.
95. Sehfelds.
97. H. Burghards zu Brieg. 1748.
98. S. Eckhardt. 1719.
99. 1761. Leipsig.
102. Berlin. 1771.
105. Kloster zu Oldenberg. 1771.
106. 1780.
107. Herrn de la Borde. 1756.
108. 1774.
109. Wedel. 1720.
110. 1767. Hannover.
111. 1774.
112. Semmler.

It seems very interesting that such stories persisted up to the
end of the 18th century.

Adam McLean

Subject: ACADEMY: Conference at the Chemical Heritage Foundation
From: Elizabeth O'Mahoney
Date: 20 March 2006

I wanted to make members aware of a conference in July at the
Chemical Heritage Foundation in Philadelphia. It is the
International Conference on the History of Alchemy and Chymistry
on from 19-22 July 2006. It looks very interesting.

Here is a link:

http://www.chemheritage.org/events/alchemy/index.html

All the best,

Liz O'Mahoney

Subject: ACADEMY: Alchemical transmutation stories in the 18th Century
From: James Callaway
Date: 22 March 2006

>It seems very interesting that such stories persisted up to
>the end of the 18th century.

It seems that they have actually persisted into the 21st century.

James Callaway