[BOOK OF SECRETS].

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 & 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 ‘precipité diaphoretique’, a panacea from ‘fleurs de mars argentérs’, ‘poudre bezoardique dorée’, Llull’s tincture, ‘panacée aperitive’, ‘Sel volatile des Plantes’, the ‘stomachique universel’, the ‘petit precipité de Paracelse’, ‘alkalis volatile’ (made from mercury), Van Helmont’s anti-hydropique remedies, mineral mumia, and Paracelsus’ ‘baume de suye’. Each section lists the benefits of a particular remedy, and how to prepare and administer it, using alchemical procedures. Among the authorities mentioned are Paracelsus, Llull, Arnaldus de Villanova, and Van Helmont. As a medical book of secrets, it is quite technical and addressed to physicians or apothecaries trained in alchemy. ‘There was close and stable interaction between C18 academic chemists and certain groups of educated practitioners, especially apothecaries, assayers, mining officials, and, especially in France, commissioners of state manufacturers. […] a significant number of practitioners, especially apothecaries, were acknowledged as chemists’ (Klein, p.18).