History of Chemistry. 355 



temperament, to exert au undue influence over his sober judgment," he 

 refers the origin of alchemy to the antediluvians, endeavors to prove 

 that Hermes Trisraegistus was a real personage, the inventor of all arts, 

 and the father of alchemy, and that the Smaragdine Table was really 

 found by the wffe of Abraham, besides accepting the preposterous 

 theories of his contemporaries concerning the elixir of life and the phil- 

 osopher's stone. This dissertation was highly prized by the alchemists 

 of his day on account of its earnest defence of their principles. 



Its present value is solely that of a curious example of the extravagant 

 credulity of a learned man. According to Wiegleb, Borrichius' work 

 may be accounted the first history of Chemistry (Alchemy). 



MoRnoF, Daniel George. Be Transmutatione metallorum Epistola ad 

 virum nohilissimum Jnelem Langelutum. 8vo. Hamburg, 1673. (Re- 

 printed in Mangetus' Bibl. Chem. curiosa. Vol. I, No. 9; also ap- 

 peared in German, under the title : " D. G. Morhof's Abhaudlung 

 vom Goldraachen." Baireuth, 17G4.) 

 Morhof, born 1639, died 1691, was Professor of History at Kiel. 



Schmieder calls him an unprejudiced historian. 



BoKRiCHius, Olaus. Hermetis, uEgyptiorum et chemicorum sapientia ab 

 Herm. Connngii animadversionibus vindicata. 4to. Hafnias, 1674. 

 (Reprinted in Mangetus' Bibl. Chem. curiosa. Vol. I, No. 2.) 



Borrichius, Olaus. Conspectus scriptorum chemicorum. 4to. Hamburg, 

 1697. (Reprinted in Mangetus' Bibl. Chem. curiosa. Vol. I, No. 2.) 



Manoet, Jean Jacques. [Mangetus.] Blbliotheca Chemica curiosa, seu 

 rerum ad alchemiam pertinentium Thesaurus instructissimus * * * 

 GeneviB. 2 vols. Folio. 1702. 

 A collection of one hundred and thirty-three rare tracts on alchemy ai"e 

 here reprinted. Contains many bibliographical notes. 



RoTH-ScHOLTZ, FiiiEDRicii. BibUotheca Chemica; h. e. Collectio Aucto- 

 rum fere omnium qui de naturoi arcanis, re metallica et minerali * * 

 hermetice scripscrunt. * * * 5 parts. 8vo. Norirabergse, 1725-33. 

 The work of a Nuremberg bookseller well versed in literature. Con- 

 tains the greater pai't of the work of Borel, which had already become 

 scarce. Is, however, incomplete, extending only to the letter H. 



Boerhaave, Herman. Elementa Chemice. Paris, 1724. Also an English 

 translation as follows : " A new Method of Chemistry, including the 

 theory and practice of that art laid down on mechanical principles 

 and accommodated to the uses of life. * * * To which is prefixed 

 a Critical History of Chemistry and Chemists from the origin of the 

 art to the present time. Written by the very learned H. Boerhaave. 

 * * * Translated by P. Shaw, M.D., and E. Chambers." 4to. Lon- 

 don, 1727. 

 A logically ari'anged, condensed history of chemistry, forming the in- 



