| Description Of Item | A handwritten book on chemistry divided into three parts, pp1-17, pp18-88 and pp89-254 titled 'De Artis chemicae ortu', 'De Chemiae Theoria' and 'De Chemiae praxi'. The second part has sections on gold, silver, copper, mercury, iron, tin, lead, salt, sulphur etc with other sections on fire, air, water and earth. The third part lists 211 processes or experiments many to do with the creation of elixirs and using alchemical symbols. There is a reference to Johann Conrad Barchusen p14 the majority of whose works were published in the early 18th century. There is also a reference on p246 to 'an. [anno] 1720'. It has been assumed that the work was written some time in the 1720s or 1730s. The author is unknown. |