Some English alchemical books : being an address delivered to The Alchemical Society on Friday, October 10th, 1913 / by Professor John Ferguson.

  • Ferguson, John, 1838-1916.
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Some English alchemical books : being an address delivered to The Alchemical Society on Friday, October 10th, 1913 / by Professor John Ferguson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    the pursuit, was George Starkey. He is said to have been bom ,n I he Burniudas, was educated in America, became an apotheairy and made the acquaintance of “Eirenteus Phila- lethcs (to be referred to later) there. From him he obtained some transmuting powder and MSS. which he afterwards noM e ’n ‘Pe Seton, the Co.smo'- poli t, and SendivogiLis over again. Starkey’s own works relate t'h>ctlv to medicine and pharmacy, but one, the Mar- roai o/ Alchemy, was edited by him and published in 1664 His introductions are not signed with his own name but with an anagram: E^regius Christo, and Vir gregis Gustos which with some wrenching will stand for Georgius Stirk' which seems to have been his true name. From the con- tents of the Introduction it is not quite clear whether Starkey obtained the M.S. direct from the author or not. ^ I he work is in two parts and is in verse, the first book containing the theory, the second the practice. It is a tan- talizing book, which doubtless it was intended to be but anyhow, when one reads it, it seems fairly intelligible, till one runs up against a phrase or stanza which may contradict what went before or give a totally different significance from what was expected. Even with the help of a commentary the meaning is no clearer. This, however, may be said : that It IS apparently of transmutation that the poem treats, though one Ccin ne\ er be Cjuite positive on that point. “Eirenasus Philalethes ” or “ Philalelha’,” as .seems to be Ihe more correct form, a very obscure person, became an adept at the age of 23, wrote several works, which had a \ ery qreat reputation and of which some were turned into Oj.,hsh. These are . Secrets Pez'ecil d, or on Open Fntronce to the Shut Palace of the King, 1669; Kipiey Reviv'd, 1678; and Three Tracts of the Great Medicine of Philosophers] 1694. These last are entitled respectively, The Transmuta- tion of Medals, A short Mannduction to the Celestial Ruby, T/ze F ountain of Chymical Philosophy. Tt is unnecessary to attempt the analysis of these books, it'would take a whole lecture to itself. T cannot, however, pass from them without some refer- ence to Will. Cooper of the Pelican, in. Little Britain, Pub- lisher and Bookseller. LTnfortunately there is no record of his life, and we only know that he was in Little St. Bartholo- mew’s, near Little Britain, before he moved to the siq-n of the Pelican. But when one conjures up the nest of that rniqhty bird, it produces upon us nearlv as stirrinq sensa- tions as the little shop full of black letter and maqic and astroloqy and alchemy—was it Bumstead’s?—so effectivelv pourtrayed by Buhver Lytton. Cooper, indeed, was a book- seller; his lists demonstrate that; but he was somethinq more—he was a publisher, an author, and above all a collec^ tor. Of what his qeneral stock may have been no trace is left, but he specialized in chemistrv, in Alchemy, in chemical medicine, and to some extent in natural historv. Amonq the books he published, some have been already mentioned. Secrets Rez'eal d: Ripley Reviv'd; Collectanea Chymica,