13 



with chemical and alchemical changes and products. I have here 

 the edition of Milan, 1644, and that of Venice, 1G67. So far as I 

 know there was no translation published. 



The preceding are almost all mixed collections, but in the six- 

 teenth century there appeared a series of small books, of purely 

 technical character, about which I have failed in getting any 

 information. The only thing to be done therefoi-e is to enumer- 

 ate and describe the books themselves, which are now before us. 



The oldest is entitled " Kilnsthuchlin," and it was printed at 

 Augsburg in 1537.* This is a collection of receipts, pui'e and 

 simple, intended for practical workpeople. The topics are the 

 working of metals, the making of colours, the dyeing and colouring 

 of various objects, the calcining of the metals, and sucli like. 



In 1549 there was published at Amsterdam a small volume, 

 entitled " Kunst Boeck," which I have not seen referred to in the 

 bibliographies. It is said to be compiled and in part translated — 

 ghecolligeert ende eensdeels geiraslateert — by Symon Andree. Tlie 

 translated sections are from the " Kunsthilchlin." In 1581 the 

 translated part of the preceding was republislunl, with a second 

 tract containing different receipts from those in the earlier one, 

 and in IGOO there appeared at Amsterdam an edition of all the 

 parts together in Dutch. In 1687 hnally a modernized reprint 

 of the "■ Kunstbiichlhi," apjieared at Franckfurt, in 12mo. These 

 collections represent fairly the kind of receipts for practical 

 purposes current in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 



Johann Jakob Wecker, a physician at Basle, added another 

 compilation to the preceding. It appeared in 1582, and several 

 editions were published. That which I have here was printed at 

 Basle so late as 1701, and is entitled " De Secretis Libri xvii." 

 It is arranged in a most systematic manner, and in this respect is 

 superior to all the others ; but one cannot give much praise to tlie 

 information which the book contains. An English version was 

 printed in folio, in 1G60. 



The seventeenth century produced a large number of books of 

 secrets, of which tliere are one or two here. 



A work somewhat similar to Wecker's, but of a more philoso- 

 jiliical cast, was written by Ileinrich Nollius, ami imltlishcd at 



* Graesse, Trisor de lAvrcs Itarcx, Dresden, 1863, iv, p. 53, quotes this 

 same ])Ouk, but ;.;ivea the date, \')oS. Otiier later ediliuiis are UKiitidiml. 



