Maturatio Mineralium.
[Dresden, not before 2 September 1662].
Folio (320 x 202 mm.). MANUSCRIPT. 382 [r. 386], [1 blank], 1, [9 blank], [7], [1 blank], [22], [6 blank]p. In a single German cursive hand (Kurrentschrift), partly columnar, ONE NEARLY FULL-PAGE DRAWING OF A FURNACE, SIX SMALLER TEXT DRAWINGS OF CHEMICAL APPLIANCES, tabulations, calculations and alchemical symbols throughout, two sheets with lists of alchemical terms and corresponding symbols laid in.
Contemporary vellum over paste-laminate boards (soiled, worn, spine defective), remnants of an old paper spine label, overlapping edges, lacks clasps and catches, edges sprinkled black.
THIS VERNACULAR MANUSCRIPT BY A MINTER in the service of the Saxon Elector Johann Georg II (r. 1656-80) TREATS EVERY ASPECT OF THE MANUFACTURE OF HARD CURRENCY. In addition to assaying, the author covers the formation, development, identification, extraction and production of gold, silver, cobalt, antimony, bismuth, tin, copper, mercury, sulphur, arsenic, pewter and lead.
He describes cupellation, the careful measurement of reagents, amalgams and other ingredients like urine. He details chemical reactions induced by nitric acid and dyes, the production of copper from iron by cementation, the purification of silver to enhance its brilliance and hermetic seals for distillation vessels. HIS INSTRUCTIONS FOR CREATING FAKE GOLD AND FOR THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE BLUR CHEMISTRY AND ALCHEMY.
His personal experience at Goslar and Zellerfeld (Harz Mountains) and their smelting furnaces, sluices and spirits inhabiting the mines occupies a quarter of the volume. A dozen full-page tables record the composition and weight of coins minted at Dresden between 1656 and 1662 and compare them to those of other states. Twenty pages of practical advice on treating and testing metals are taken from “H.M.M.” (?Herr Münz Meister).
A 350-entry alphabetic subject index and LISTS OF ALCHEMICAL ELEMENTS AND THEIR GERMAN, ITALIAN, GREEK, ARABIC, ENGLISH, POLISH AND FRENCH SYMBOLS conclude the volume. In good condition (outer columns of a few tables just shaved), outer margins of 56 leaves uncut; from the dispersed library of Ernest Augustus of Hanover (1771-1851; stamp).
¶See Singer’s A History of Technology III: 27-68 and Long’s “The Openness of Knowledge… Writings on Mining and Metallurgy” in The History of Science in a World of Readers edd. Schäfer & Creager (2019) 19-48.
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