On the first editions of the chemical writings of Democritus and Synesius / by John Ferguson.

  • Ferguson, John, 1838-1916.
Date:
[1884]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the first editions of the chemical writings of Democritus and Synesius / by 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.

    6/14 (page 4)
    Democritus alone, from the Padua edition direct. All this seems to me very doubtful; if there be a Cologne 1574 edition it is most likely a reprint of INIizauld with Democritus; while of the other dates, the only copies known want Democritus. My own opinion is that the editions of 1592, 1613, 1673, need not be taken into account until actual copies of Mizauld with Democritus, or until separate editions of Democritus alone with these dates be dis- covered, an event which I think will never happen. 6. The last edition mentioned by Dr. Kopp is that printed at Niirnberg, in 1717. He himself has not seen it, but he quotes it from Hoffmann, and observes that its title is different from that of 1573. It is very remarkable, as showing the doubt hanging round the whole subject, that even respecting this almost modern edition there is contradiction, for while Hoffmann gives tlie title in Latin, Dufresnoy, and after him Schmieder, say that it was in German. Dr. Ko})p is unable to decide who is right. 7. Tt would ap]:>ear, therefore, as if, of the several editions men- tioned during the last three centuries, only one—that of Padua, 1573—were properly authenticated 1)V competeih authorities, Beckmann and Dr. Kopp. The foregoing summary is requisite for the pro])er understanding of what I have discovered lately on this subject. 8. In the course of certain researches, not immediately concerned with Democritus, I was led recently to investigate Mizauld’s Memorahilium Centuriae Novem, of which a copy of the Frankfurt edition, 1592, had come into my hands (§ 5). Looking for other editions, I found first in Sir William Hamilton’s Collection, now in the University Library, and, thereafter, in the Hunterian Library, copies of Mizauld’s work printed at Cologne in 1572. On examining the two copies, I observed that they both contained the tract of Democritus, with the commentaries, translated by Pizimenti. The following is a detailed description of the book :— Title: Aiitonii Mizaldi Mon- j luciaiii Galli, Medici, | Memorabi- j livm, Sive Area- | norvm omnis Ge- [ neris, | Per Aphorismos l)i- | gestoruni, Centiirife IX. [ Et, | Democritvs Abderita, Be | rebus Xaturalibus & Mysticis. { Cum | Synesii, et Pelagii | Commentarijs. j Infcerprete de Grceca lingua, | Domiuico Pizimentio Vibonen- | si, Italo. j Pr^efatio, I In omnes liosce libros. j Coloniae, j Apud loannem Birckmannum j Anno D.M.LXXII. | Cum Gratia & Priuilegio Ciesar. Maiestat. | o^jid X 3 Gj6 inches. Signatures in twelves; ff. 52 unnumbered and 2 blank, 2If-5 numbered, 1 blank. Printed in italics.