Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 125

BERNARDUS TREVISANUS (1406-1490) Traicté de la nature de l'oeuf des philosophes. [Chez Pierre Moët] 1659 64 pp. 16.4 cm.

Nothing is known with certainty about the life and career of Bernardus Trevisanus, and some authorities feel that perhaps two or even three individuals wrote the works attributed to him. An alchemist, his writings reveal that he was well-acquainted with the writings of Avicenna, Geber, Albertus Magnus, Arnaldus de Villanova, and Thomas Aquinas. His works remained popular and were reprinted as late as the eighteenth century. In this work on the nature of the philosophers' stone, he reiterated the alchemical doctrine that the philosophers' stone is composed of mercury alone. He asserted that the mysterious elixir which would transmute base metals and prolong life was made of pure mercury and contained within itself the entire magisterium.

Cited references: Osler 2023 (1624 ed.); Wellcome 808 (1624 ed.)