Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 755

HERMANN BOERHAAVE (1668-1738) De mercurio experimenta. Expensis Bernardini Gessarii 1739 [8] 223 [1] pp., fold. plate. 18.4 cm.

For more information on this author or work, see number: 739

Even after resigning his professorship of chemistry in 1729 and completing Elementa chemiae (Leiden, 1732), Boerhaave retained his interest in the subject and continued to do chemical research and experimentation. One of his chief aims was to test the medieval belief in the transmutation of metals using modern research methods and the other was to find a drug to mitigate or cure gout. Mercury was of special interest to Boerhaave and his notes reveal that on one occasion he heated mercury for fifteen years and six months and, on another, for over two years. He also utilized gold, lead, and tin in his experiments, eventually reporting the results of his many experiments to the Royal Society of London and the Académie Royale des Sciences at Paris in a series of three communications. This first communication was sent to Cromwell Mortimer, secretary of the Royal Society, in February 1734 and was first published that year in Volume 38 of the Philosophical transactions.

See Related Record(s): 767 768

Cited references: Lindeboom 507

Gift of William B. Bean, M.D