The first history of chemistry / by John Ferguson.

  • John Ferguson
Date:
[1886]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The first history of chemistry / by John Ferguson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    4/18 (page 4)
    century, some authorities say at Rugles, others at Rouen.* In his first book he is styled Eothomagensis, i.e., of Rouen, but, so far as I know, it is only in this book that this designation appears. Everywhere else his name is followed by the epithet: Rugl, which is a contraction for Ruglensis. He was a canon of Chartres, who, judging by his writings, was interested in natural history, and who was led away, like many of his contemporaries, by the fascinations of alchemy. § 4.—Of his life apart from his writings there is no record. His first book was an abridgement of Pliny's Natural History which he dedicated to Rene, bishop of Chartres, and of which the first edition was printed in 1500. Along with it Vallensis published an Explanatio Locorum Plinii difficiliorum ordine alphabetico, Paris, by Durand Gerlier, 1500, in 4to.f Another edition appeared in 1505. The title is as follows: Roberti de Valle Rothomagensis compendium memorandorum vires naturales et commoda coprehendens a Plinio data; valens nedum ad secreta nature noscenda; sed ad vsus quoq3 necessarios; corporisq3 et ingenii coseruatione; Impressum Parisii (sic) per Pelicem Baligault impensa magistri Durandi Gerlier, anno 1505, in small 4to.J It was reprinted in 1520 in 4to, and this edition was also published by Durand Gerlier. § There was another in 1600 in 4to, but I have seen no detailed notice of it. || All the editions seem to be of great rarity. There is one of the 1505 edition * The Biographie Universelle says at Rugles, Lebreton (Biographie Normande, Rouen, 1857, I. p. 529) says he was born at Rouen or at Rugles, but Frere {Manuel du Bibliographe Normand, Rouen, 1S5S, I. p. 415) says definitely that he was born at Rouen and that the Biographie Universelle is in error. I am quite unable to decide who is right. Schmieder (Geschichte der Alchemie, Halle, 1832, p. 27S) hazards the guess that he was a German, that his name Mras Robert Thaler and that he was a native of Ruhland, in Oberlausitz ! Kopp (Beitrdge, Braunschweig, 1S69, ]}. 3'2'2) say he knows nothing about him, which is strange, considering that there is an article on him in the Biographie Universelle and that Poggeudorff {Biographisch-literarisches Handiuorterbuch, 1863, I. col. 635,) also mentions him. t Graesse, Tr6sor de Livres Bares, Dresden, 1S67, T. VI. ii. p. 251. Graesse does not seem to have known that Boberlus de Valle was the same person as Boberlus Vallensis. X Ed. Fr6re, Manuel du Bibliographe Normand, I. p. 415. § Biographie Universelle. Nouvelle Biographie Gdndrale. Lebreton Biographie Normande, I. p. 529. || Lebreton, Ibid.