Dr%20Georgiana%20Hedesan: List of publications

This article provides a first in-depth look at the La fonderia dell’Illmo et Ecc.mo Signor Don Antonio de’ Medici, a publication that was issued at the Casino di San Marco in Florence in 1604. This work has been deemed to be lost by many scholars on the Casino, but in fact a copy of it is found in the British Library. The article analyses the contents of La fonderia, paying particular attention to the alchemy and Paracelsianism to be identified therein. La fonderia is primarily a book of medical recipes, but also contains some intriguing theoretical parts. The paper also examines the marginalia that can be found in the British Library copy of La fonderia. The article concludes with a reflection on the importance of alchemy and Paracelsianism at Don Antonio’s Casino.

L’histoire des sciences attribue au médecin, alchimiste et philosophe Jan Baptist Van Helmont (1579- 1644) un rôle clef dans le développement de la chimie et de la médecine. Mais en se concentrant sur son impact sur la formation de la science moderne, on ne rend pas justice à la complexité de sa pensée. Van Helmont fut un penseur original, qui ambitionna de créer une synthèse nouvelle de la philosophie naturelle et du christianisme, qui dépasse et remplace le scholasticisme médiéval. La philosophie naturelle qu’il considère est basée sur l’alchimie. Cette ambition est visible dans le texte de l’Ortus Medicinæ (1648), une compilation de traités, finis ou inachevés, qui furent publiés à titre posthume par son fils Franciscus Mercurius. Cet article présente un résumé de la philosophie nouvelle voulue par Van Helmont, en analysant sa doctrine sur Dieu, l’homme et la nature.<br/><br/> History of science credits the Flemish physician, alchemist and philosopher Jan Baptist Van Helmont (1579–1644) for his contributions to the development of chemistry and medicine. Yet, focussing on Van Helmont’s impact on modern science does not do justice to the complexity of his thought. Rather, Van Helmont was an original thinker who sought to produce a new post-Scholastic synthesis of Christianity and natural philosophy, the latter being drawn on an alchemical foundation. This ambition emerges from the text of the Ortus medicinae (1648), a compilation of finished and unfinished treatises published posthumously by his son Franciscus Mercurius. The present article gives a concise account of Van Helmont’s philosophy by analysing its main tenets regarding God, man and nature.

ALCHEMICAL. QUEST. FOR. UNIVERSAL. KNOWLEDGE. History of science credits the Flemish physician, alchemist and philosopher Jan Baptist Van Helmont (1579–1644) for his contributions to the development of chemistry and medicine.