pdf - Roger Gaskell Rare Books

First edition in Latin, issued simultaneously in German as
Dess Teutsch landts-Wohlfahrt (Amsterdam, Jansson, 1656–
1661). Duveen 256; Caillet 4587.
Glauber left Germany in 1655 and settled in Amsterdam where
he remained for the rest of his life. In this work he encouraged
his compatriots ‘to make better use of their natural resources
and to become economically self­suYcient.
‘He gave recipes for wine and beer concentrates that are both
stable and easily exported and he mentioned a secret press for
the eYcient extraction of niter from wood. He proceeded to
point out that niter can then be used in the extraction of metals,
particularly gold and silver, and that these precious metals, in
turn, could be directed into foreign trade. He dedicated a variety
of other items to the fatherland: new medicines, a fertilizer of
salt and lime, a seed preparation, and various techniques for
processing metals. Finally, since all this was futile without
adequate protection from the Turks, he disclosed a new
weapon: a missile containing “Wery water” (a fuming acid, or
perhaps essential oils to be ignited by nitric acid)...
‘Glauber’s interest in the transmutation of metals and in industrial chemistry
distinguished him from Paracelsus and other iatrochemists, who were more
narrowly concerned with the preparation of chemical medicines. In the most
general sense Glauber sought to perfect nature for the enhancement of human
life – to render useless things useful through the release of their hidden virtues.
Such changes were eVected in his laboratory primarily through the “ripening”
powers of salts.’ (Kathleen Ahonen, DSB 5: 421).
65
GLAuBER, Johann Rudolf (1604–1670)
[4 works in German bound together].
1. Explicatio oder Uber dass unlängst.
Arnheim: Bey Jacob von Wiesen, 1656.
8vo: A–G8 (blank G8), 56 leaves, pp. 110 [2, blank].
The running heads are ‘Erklärung ubers Miraculum Mundi’ and this and
the next work are also bound together in the NLM copies. Krivatsy
4797; Caillet 4582.
2. Miraculum Mundi, oder Auszfürliche Beschreiben der
wunderbaren Natur, Art, und EigenschaVt der groszmächtigen
subjecti, von den Alten Menstruum universale oder Mercurius
Philosophorum.
Amsterdam: [no publisher’s imprint to part 1; parts 2 and 3:] Bey Johann
Jansson, 1653, 1657, 1660.
3 parts 8vo: 1. A–G8 (blanks G7,8), 56 leaves, pp. [2] 105 [5, blank];
2. Miracula mundi continuatio: A–H8 , I4 (–I4, presumed blank), 67 of