15 



is a collection of curious things to be effected by physical causes, 

 merely for the sake of amusement, and without any practical pur- 

 pose in view. 



In English two technical books were published that had 

 some reputation. Gabriel Plattes' " Discovery of Suhterraneall 

 l^reasure, viz., of all manner of mines and mineralls, from the 

 (jold to the coal" appeared at London in 1G39. This, as its 

 name indicates, is concerned chiefly with mining and metallurgy, 

 but there is a section at the end devoted to the colours that can 

 be extracted from vegetables and the way of dyeing in fast colours. 

 The other ti'eatise is Sir Hugh Plat's: " llie Jewel House of Art 

 and Nature" London 1653. This is a very mixed collection, as i t 

 includes receipts and desci^iptions from all the sciences. Though 

 not entitled " secrets," these two tracts belong to the category. 



In France a certain Mdlle. Marie Meurdrac published a little 

 work with the quaint title, " Compassionate and Simple Cltemisiri/ 

 loritten for meritorious ladies." Of this there is a German trans- 

 lation by Johann Lange, Franckfurt, 1676. The collection consists 

 cliiefly of pharmaceutical and, as was to be expected, cosmetical 

 receipts. The subject is arranged in six books, and the last is de- 

 voted specially to the pi'eparation of those substances with Avhich 

 ladies at that time were wont to preserve their beauty.* 



During the coui'se of the seventeenth century some arts had so 

 far advanced that treatises dealing Avith thera alone began to 

 ajjpear. This is notably the case with metallurgy, an art which 

 lias always occupied a prominent place and has a considerable 

 literature. Glass-making also in the seventeenth century can 

 boast of a special literature. The German chemist Kunckel pub- 

 lished a l)Ook on the subject at Franckfurt in 1679 ; a Florentine. 

 Antonio Ncri, another, of which I have the late 1686 Amsterdam 

 edition. Of this book Christopher Merrett issiied an English 

 translation in 1662; lastly, Blancourt wrote a treatise in French 

 of which an English translation was published in 1699 at London, 

 under the title: — " The Art of Glass. Shewing how to make all 



* In books of receipts cosmetics occupy sometimes a considerable space, 

 but there are, besides, works specially devoted to the subject. Amongst 

 those I may mention an exceedingly scarce work, by .Joan Liobaut, to 

 whom as translator of Gcsner's ThesauruH reference has been made 

 above. It is entitled "Truis Livrcs de V Emhdl'isscmenl et Ornement du coi'p.t 

 humain." Paris, 158"2. Svo., pp. 16 — 464 — 16. 



