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JOANNES
BAPTISTA
c,
HELMONT
VAN
ALCHEMIST,
AND
PHILOSOPHER
H. STANLEY
BY
REDGROVE,
B.Sc.(Lond.),F.c.s.
AND
M.
L.
REDGROVE
AUTHORS
"JOSEPH
GLANVILL
AND
RESEARCH
IN
"
SEVENTEENTH
WITH
OF
PSYCHICAL
CENTURY
PORTRAIT
FRONTISPIECE
LONDON
WILLIAM
8.n
.RIDER
PATERNOSTER
"
SON,
ROW,
1922
i:
"Aq.
PHYSICIAN
V^
LTD.
E.C.
THE
1FD1CAL
CENTEK
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I
PAGE
Paracelsian
The
Reformation
cine
Medi-
of
CHAPTER
Van
Helmont's
Early
own
Life
II
Account
of
Studies
and
.12
.
CHAPTER
Travels
III
Trials
and
.24
.
CHAPTER
Mysticism
37
(a) Epistemology
(6)
IV
Magic
and
his
37
Ontology
41
.
(c) Psychology
{d)
The
Power
43
of
Magnetism
46
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
PAGE
Alchemical
Achievements
.62
.
(a)
Researches
Gases
on
.52
.
(b)
Researches
Conservation
on
56
.
(c)
The
First
Matter
.57
.
{d)
The
Transmutation
Metals
of
59
.
VI
CHAPTER
The
Advancement
of
Art
Healing
the
65
.
(a)
Physiology
.65
.
(b)
Pathology
.73
.
(c)
{d)
Therapeutics
The
Elixir
.79
of
Life
.83
BAPTISTA
JOANNES
VAN
HELMONT
CHAPTER
In
the
began
to
be
of
in
taking
was
and
of
found
wit
to
man,
accomplished
Their
focal
point
Mddle
as
in
philosophy,
Galen
men
and
the
dared
none
and
were
their
majesty
works
the
past
of
of
work
too, did
so,
"
focus
those
medicine.
of
celsus
Parathe
throughout
"
so
dared
none
Avicenna
three
to
came
in
to
achieved
master-mind
the
not
based
been
on
^thought had
fettered
and, just
by tradition
;
question the teaching of Aristotle
Ages
and
authority
results
beneficial
reformation
In
which
domain
the
which
forces
the
was
that
with
Luther,
the
(1493-1541).
later
in
expression
Martin
which
time
Church
the
effectual
to
more)
the
as
of medicine
world
and
even
there
century
similar
same
theology,
reformation
one
the
at
Just
posterity.
and
in the
ways
perhaps
{nay,
the
many
place
reUgion
less
sixteenth
the
accompHshed
revolution
of
early part
MEDICINE
OF
REFORMATION
PARACELSIAN
THE
of
are
of man's
in
medicine.
the
world's
permanent
thought.
7
question
these
Truly,
master
minds,
to
monuments
But
not
of
that
by
bhnd
BAPTISTA
JOANNES
reliance
the work
on
HELMONT
VAN
of Nature
by man
had
stagnated into scholasticism
medicine
a
was
similar, and
necessary
if progress
was
the
conquest
Philosophythe
of
state
revolution
was
to be made.
ever
science
of
no
Strictly speaking, there was
chemistry in the modern
meaning of the term
Boyle (1626-1691),
prior to the time of Robert
first defined
who
chemical
element
as
it
is
now
the
term
taken
to
cover
such
H.
For
S.
as
those
be
may
full
of the
account
Redgrove's
Edition, London,
of
Alchemy
1922), and
alchemy
:
in
all
its
bearings see
(Second
Bygone Beliefs(London, 1920).
Ancient
and
Modern
OF
REFORMATION
MEDICINE
aims.
that
taught
the
primary object
the
of chemistry was
preparation of drugs
their purification
and the discovery of new
ones.
His theory of the three principles salt,sulphur
Paracelsus
"
"
and
in
mercury
all
their
"
he
beheved
very
^which
not
from
different
Galen's
be
present
being
due
their
portion,
dispro-
to
the
to
seem
to
modern
doctrine
to
mind
of
four
health
and
difference
that
his
remedies.
minerals
much
in
the
same
But
way.
the
of vital and
theory
importance was
supreme
led Paracelsus
to seek for chemical
Galen
in their
purify them
was
crude
and
with
content
state
herbs
Paracelsus
their
and
sought
quintessence.
Both as a teacher and as a physician,Paracelsus,
ably
in spite of most
vigorous opposition, was remarkHis
successful.
followers, that is to say,
in the
those
believed
union
of chemistry
who
medicine
and approached the science in the
and
free Paracelsian
spirit,without necessarilyaccepting
all Paracelsus's
of
some
peculiar doctrines
which
as
are
are
usually known
very fantastic
to
to extract
"
"
10 JOANNES
BAPTISTA
VAN
HELMONT
constitutes
iatro-chemists,and their work
the
third
period in the history of chemistry.
But
it must
not, however, be supposed that,
because
a new
impetus had been given to chemical
of alchemy
carded.
disresearch, the doctrines
were
cluding
Practically all the iatro-chemists,inParacelsus
the
in
himself, believed
of them
possibility of transmutation.
Many
essayed to achieve it, and two or three claimed
been
successful.
to have
During the
century
the
and
half
which
separates
Paracelsus
from
medicine
made
chemistry and
Boyle, both
and
their
union
rapid progress,
strengthened
Thenceforward
it became
both of them.
possible
for each
science
to travel
along its own
path
individual
towards
its own
perfection.
there
Of the iatro-chemists
is none
greater
than
Joannes
Helmont, who
Baptista van
may
the
of his
justly be termed
greatest chemist
of any
or
preceding, age.
Writing of him,
own,
that he was
Professor E. von
Meyer remarks
"
"
One
of the
eminent
and
independent
Endowed
with rich acquirechemists
of his time.
ments
and experiences in medicine
and chemistry,
of his contemporaries who
he surpassed those
field
he fought against
in the same
laboured
the old medical
buted
system, and materially contriby his brilliant services in bringing about
iatro-chemisits fall. Without
van
Helmont,
have
attained
the
to
never
height
try would
it was
to which
subsequently raised by Sylvius
In addition, he enriched
and
Tachenius.
pure
most
...
REFORMATION
chemistry
by
observations."
to
B.
Helmont
van
in medicine
both
of
thinker."
But
modern
was
in the
sense
widest
claimed
conflict
reminds
Medicine
nor
of
us
never
profound
so
and
only a chemist
pliilosopherand mystic
not
"
of the
term,
interesting
alchemist, but
an
have
metal
so
He
observer
also
carried
hfe
the
because
of the
many
of
with
hght with
tradition, of truth
with
hate.
to
of
hfe
martyrs
darkness,
not
was
who
those
transmutation
of every
it shows
with
he
note,
the
His
of wisdom.
man
one
out
gold.
into
only because
interesting, but
of
greatest figure
Aristotle.
was
not
lives
the
it is
to
of base
him
times.
Helmont
physician, he
merely
valuable
van
Moreover,
of
equally competent
is
was
Hippocrates and
so
penetrating an
had
11
J. A.
"J.
MEDICINE
great number
very
who
Mandon,
judge, WT-ites concerning
Dr.
OP
interesting,
is
great man
is
us
"
do
as
of science
of
free
"
the
^the
enquiry
dogmatism,
of love
Ernst
von
J.
Mandon
etc.,
par
A.
Memoires
VAcademie
Meyer
"
des
J.
Concours
Royale
(Bruxelles, 1866),
p.
555.
de
B.
Helmont,
van
et
des
Medecine
Savants
de
sa
Biographie,"
etrangers,
Belgique,
publies
tome
vi
II
CHAPTER
HELMONT'S
VAN
own
Brussels
in
of
his
de
Baptist
Stassart,
lifetime
death,
families
his
youngest
Enghsh
London
the
by
Or,
It
reissued
was
of
three
discovered
the
in
the
tome
"
first
Medicince
Ortus
translated
was
the
under
and
reissued
title
pubhshed
was
in
with
1664
Workes.
Helmonfs
the
It
Hippocrates.
published
chapter,
(Antwerp,
in
1853),
d'
are
Particulars
his
commentaries
of
will
12
be
were
published
one,
published
de
Belgique,
the
bears
title,
restitutam,"
Paracelso
works
be
and
Archeologie
on
the
lifetime
these,
327-92,
pp.
which
century
Of
medicam
artem
during
Broeckx.
here
may
Helmont,
van
last
V Academie
de
others
by
the
of
C.
Mention
times.
works
middle
by
time
Annales
X
several
early
the
in
Eisagoge
whilst
of
Refined,
Van
lished
pub-
was
Mercurius
Chandler,
of
name
his
upon
Franciscus
book
being
his^
Jan.
for
1662,
but
writings
title
This
John
Physic
or
in
new
made
the
1648)."^
of Oriatrike,
in
son,
under
(Amsterdam,
his
the
During
works,
of
of
one
Brabant.
few
Marie
mother,
from
of
body
main
Helmont,
into
descended
in
child
j^oungest
his
through
born
was
the
was
published
the
by
van
He
was
he
Helmont
van
and
illustrious
most
1577.
parents,
LIFE
STUDIES
AND
Joannes
EARLY
HIS
OF
ACCOUNT
of
two
of
found
the
van
in
books
of
Helmont
the
next
STUDIES
other
into several
also translated
was
AND
LIFE
EARLY
13
languages.
interesting
follows
"
the
In
year
1580, the
miserable
most
to
one
Father
Countries, my
Belgium, or the Low
I being the youngest, and of least esteem
died.
and
For I was
Brethren
Sisters.
of my
brought
aU
the
finished
was
to
had
onely
made
the
the
in
of
none
and
Gown,
Arts,
degrees
in
certain
kinde
whole
rash
behef
of
to
Professors
that
mock
of young
as
year
since I
Lovaine
for sometime
were
I did
to
take
admire
to
be
men.
in
I drew
my
past,
their
at
Professors,and
also the simphcity
dotage
World,
at
had
men
young
expose
the
Therefore
Mother, I seemed
sole disposer of my
saw
1594
Philosophy, which
seventeenth.
year
I
a
the
in
course
me
Wherefore
but
But
Studies.
in
up
so
of
the
in
the
self into
an
"
or
BAPTISTA
14 JOANNES
VAN
HELMONT
the forbidden
Letter, and (as it were
Apple being eaten) to be plainly naked, save,
Then
that I had learned
to wrangle.
artificially
within
first I came
to know
self,that I knew
my
that which
of no
was
nothing, and that I knew
For
the Sphere in natural
worth.
Phylosophy,
did seem
to promise something of knowledge, to
I had joyned the Astrolobe, the
which therefore
the speculations
of the Ring or Circle, and
use
Also I was
of the Planets.
diligentin the Art
the
Science
of Logick, and
Mathematical, for
delights sake, as often as the reading of other
on
me.
things had brought a wearisomeness
I joyned the
Whereto
Elements, or first
Principlesof Euclide ; and this Learning, I had
Genius
natural
made
sociable to my
or
wit,
it contained
truth ; but by chance, the
because
art of knowing the Circle of Cornelius
Gemma, as
hand.
of another
to
Metaphysick, came
my
Nicholas
Which,
seeing it onely commended
the
Copernicus, I left not off, till I had made
with
the
"
familiar
same
unto
me.
Whence
I learned
the
or
excentricities,
things not having one and
of the
circular motion
the same
Center, another
Heavens
and
I presumed, that whatsoever
so
:
I had gotten concerning the Heavens, with great
not
worthy of the time bestowed
pains, was
vain
about
"
it.
Therefore
or
little,
no
the
Study
with
account
of
me,
of
Astronomy, was
because
it promised
vain
truth, but very many
Course,
having finished my
things. Therefore
when
I knew
as
nothing that was sound, nothing
little of
certainty
or
that
was
Arts
play
the
being unfiling
Master
me
Scholar.
knowledge,
from
seK
my
the
true, I refused
with
me,
of the
seven
fool
Therefore
but
the
not
STUDIES
AND
LIFE
EARLY
that
Title
15
of
of Master
Professors
should
that
their
appearance,
withdrew
Schooles.
promised me, so
self free to Theology or
make
that I would
my
affrightedme from it,
Divinity ; But S. Bernard
eat the sins of the people. But
because
I should
safe
I begged of the Lord
Jesus, that he would vouchI might most
call me
to
thither, where
the year, wherein
the
it was
For
please him.
had
Jesuites
Philosophy at
begun to teach
Lovaine, the King, Nobles, and University,being
against it ; and that thing, together with them,
forbidden
was
by Cle^nent the Eighth. But their
Scholars
aspiring to their Degree, they had
"
wealthy Cannonship
assembled
them
to
the
was
School-houses
but
BAPTISTA
16 JOANNES
VAN
HELMONT
and
Seneca, who
greatly pleased me,
I
seemed, in
especially Epictetus. Therefore
the juyce of
moral
Philosophy, to have found
then
truth : and
presently I thought, this was
that for which Pythagoras might require the strict
AnncBUS
Silences of
so
many
therefore
and
Cajyuchin to be
Indeed
Christian Stoick.
a
Study for Eternity,
smiled on me
; but for so great austereness, my
hinder ance.
tender
health was
I prayed
a
more
the Prince
of life divers times, that he would
give strength, whereby I might contemplate of
the
naked
truth, and
immediately love it.
this desire in me,
of Kempis, increased
Thomas
few
being changed,
years
Taulerus.
afterwards
and
and
whose
Heaven
seemed
Diameter
:
And
when
sumed,
pre-
Stoicisme, I
length, after some
exercise, I fell into
"
saw
to
stay and
a
that
in
Dream.
made
be
reached
for above
weariness
from
hovered
empty
an
the
a
Earth
Bubble,
even
flesh-eater
to
but
EARLY
without
but
LIFE
special grace,
attends
sin
empty
bottomless
and
to
STUDIES
any
Which
us.
favourily known, I
I knew,
; and
an
AND
actions, nothing
being
admired
that
my
Stoicisme
swoUen
and
seen,
former
Bubble,
17
ances
ignor-
did retain
between
me
the
necessity of
I knew
death.
imminent
I say, that
by this
Study, under the shew of moderation, I was made
most
haughty : as if trustingin the freedom of
divine
will, I did renounce
as
my
grace, and
though, what we would, we might effect by our
Let God
forbid such wickedness, I said.
selves.
I judged, that
Wherefore
be
to
Blasphemy
indulged by Paganisme indeed ; but not to
become
Christian : and
I judged Stoical
a
so
Pliilosophy, with this Title, hateful. In the
I was
mean
time, when
tired,and wearied with
the too much
tion
reading of other things,for recreasake, I rouled over Matliiolus d,n"Diascorides,
self, nothing to be equally
thinking with my
for mortal
as
by admiring the
necessary
men,
in Vegetables,to minister
to their
grace of God
necessities,and to crop the fruit of the
proper
the
same.
virtues
and
invention
uses, to have
and
Histories
after, have
came
been
:
added
to the former
except that
those
who
BAPTISTA
18 JOANNES
qualities,to which
Elementary
of the
VAN
Her be
is to
be
HELMONT
the
attributed.
temperature
But
when
had
when
stableness
wondred
at
the
cause
of
the
im-
At
of the
is a Science,
leastwise, seeing Medicine
the
Father
from
a
good gift coming down
of Lights, I did think, that
it might have
its
Theoremes
and
chief Authours, instructed
by an
infused
knowledge, into whom, as into Bazaleel,
had inspired
and Aholiah, the spiritof the Lord
the Causes
and
knowledge of all Diseases, and
also the knowledge of the properties of things.
Therefore
I thought these
to
enlightened men
be the Standarddefending Professors of healing.
I inquired I say, whether
there were
not another,
who
had
described
the Endowments,
Properties,
Applications and
proportions of Vegetables,
from the Hyssop, even
of Lihanus
?
to the Cedar
"
certain
Galen
Avicen.
or
of
Professor
of these
none
me,
STUDIES
AND
LIFE
EARLY
Medicine
things might
But
since
be
19
answered
for in
looked
not
was
apt to
Writers, the
believe, neither did I finde, among
certainty sought for, I suspected it according to
would
remain
truth, that the giver of Medicine
Therefore
the continual
dispenser of the same.
sion
ProfesI being careful! and
doubtfull, to what
I should
resign my seK, I had regard to the
of the People, and Lawes, and pleasures
manners
the Law
to be mens
of Princes ; I saw
Traditions,
void of
and
therefore
uncertain, unstable, and
truth : For
because
in humane
things there is
of knowledge, I
no
marrow
stabihty, and no
seemed
to passe
an
over
unprofitable life,if I
it to the pleasures of men.
should convert
Lastly, I knew, that the government of my
hard
seK, was
enough for me ; but the judgement
concerning good men, and the hfe of others,
vexatious
to be dark, and
subject to a thousand
difficulties : wherefore
I whoUy denied, the Study
of the Law, and government
of others.
On the
hfe
other
was
hand, the misery of humane
m-gent, and the will of God, whereby every one
himself
defend
so
long as he can ; but I
may
inchned
with
a
more
singular greediness, unto
the most
pleasing knowledge of natural things ;
"
and
as
even
the
Soul
became
Servant
to
its
own
inchnations, I
the
knowledge
read
the
whereby
Science
I knew
of
that
Medicine,
I had
as
it
lookt
were
into
by
an
the
whole
Epitome,
20 JOANNES
I
and
smiled
BAPTISTA
VAN
myself. Is
delivered, without
to
the
HELMONT
knowledge
of
Theoreme
and
a
healing thus
the giftof healingfrom
Teacher, who hath drawn
Is the whole
the Adeptist ?
History of natural
properties,thus shut up in Elementary qualities?
of Galen
I read the works
Therefore
twice, once
learned
Hipocrates (whose Aphorismes I almost
by heart) and all Avicen, and as well the Greeks,
Arabians, as Moderns, happily six hundred, I
thorow, and
attentively read
seriously, and
places, of whatsoever
taking notice by common
singular to me in them, and worthy
might seem
of the
Quill. At
length, reading again my
collected stuffe,I knew
want, and it grieved
my
of my
as
me
pains bestowed, and years : When
tions,
I observed, that all Books, with instituindeed
Song, did promise nothing
singingthe same
of soundness, nothing that might promise the
knowledge of truth, or the truth of knowledge.
from the beginning I
In the mean
time, even
had gotten from
a
Merchant, all simples, that I
in my
possession,
might keep a little of my own
lector
of the Shops, or a ColClark
from
then
and
a
of
all the usual
Plants
of simples, I had
our
Countrey ; and so I learned the knowledge
And
also
of many
by the looks of the same.
I thorowly weighed with my
self,that indeed I
the face of Simples, and their names
knew
but,
:
their properties,nothing lesse.
than
I would
Therefore
a
practising
accompany
again,
Physitian, straightway it repented me
and
uncertainty, and
again, of the insufficiency,
indeed,
conjectures of healing. I had known
"
"
EARLY
LIFE
AND
STUDIES
21
of hard
problematically, or by way
question,
not
to dispute of any
how
Disease, but I knew
the very pain of the Teeth, or scabbedness,
to cure
radically.
that
Fevers
and
common
Lastly, I saw
neither
Diseases
were
certainly,nor
knowingly,
nor
safely cured ; but the more
grievous ones,
and
those which
of their own
not
cease
accord,
for the most
placed into the Catalogue
part were
"
of incurable
happily,
Greeks
it
into
came
of
my
full
found
Medicine, was
Uved
which, the Romanes
hundred
I
years.
healing to be false
of
art
Then
Diseases.
reckoned
but
the
the
medies
Re-
Rules
of the founders
a
sorrowful
thou
he
hast
not
of
heart.
angry
with
disclosed
of Medicine
God
mortal
inen
sities
diver-
I said with
Complexions,
Good
the
in
how
who
long wilt
hitherto
than
in
times
one
past
Is
the
Sacrifice
of
22 JOANNES
withall
on
BAPTISTA
VAN
HELMONT
if favour
bounds.
beyond my
Pardon, pardon. Oh
away
indiscreet Charity ; for thou art
the
Lord, my
radicall good of goodness it self. Thou
hast known
sighes, and that I confess,that I am, know,
my
able to do, and
have nothing, that
am^worth, am
I am
naked, empty, vain:
give 0 Lord,
poor,
give knowledge to thy Creature, that he may
very
know
other
affectionately
thy Creature, himselffirst,
things besides himself,for thy Command
of Charity,
than all things,to be ultimately
all things,and more
in thee.
"
from
Which
much
thing, when
tiresomness,
had
earnestly prayed
and
wearisomness
of
EARLY
LIFE
AND
of
Vegetables
and
Natures
lived
things,
of
knew
with
hitherto
be
perplexed
the
the
Sun
And
whom
He,
shall
the
shine
of
old
God,
1
top,
unless
little,
all
In
being
age,
use
preserved.
come
shall
be
quotations
become
of
capital
letters
Wisdom,
unto
he
hath
that
do
to
the
haue
and
now
very
Lord
waxed
also
to
Oriatrike,
and
under
unacceptable
and
Honour."
to
Curiosities.
of
man,
vain
are
favour
thus
part
and
able
be
Loe,
from
most
of
yea,
bountiful
all
call
yet
as
the
out
shall
unprofitable,
whom
the
shall
him.
upon
man,
to
and
been
the
Jesus
length,
At
which
searchings
daily
and
vain,
things,
all
the
Lord
other
no
to
ripe
are
the
and
come
an
vain
in
Spirit
my
of
knowledge
for
had
Salomon,
narrow
Errours,
together.
the
while,
mean
reading,
my
down
written
experiences
of
and
The
prayer,
sifting
23
Mineralls,
properties.
without
not
search
their
of
knowings
STUDIES
italics
spelling,
the
of
the
tion,
punctua-
original
have
CHAPTER
III
TRAVELS
the
In
chapter
previous
the
task
his
day,
the
by
authors
meet
to
achieve
of
study
the
then
in
satisfaction
had
broken
and
had
learned
destined
was
and
rely
the
only
he
teaching
his
upon
his
of
intuitions
not
until
resolve,
traditional
with
to
and
this
in
entirely
observations,
he
disappointments,
many
of
medical
the
and
But
repute.
for
sciences
various
especially botany
to
himself
prepared
more
with
to
had
he
how
and
medicine,
hfe
his
devote
to
how
learned
have
we
decided
Helmont
van
TRIALS
AND
own
own
original mind.
At
a
early
an
of
course
Medicine
in
had
at
the
this
"
fact
See
Dr.
Memoir
publies
tome
a
very
vi
par
own
when
he
improbable
him
by
"
that
he
his philosophical
just completed
M.
Rommelaere/
and, with
ch.
Rommelaere's
es
of
only
Pestis,"
W.
his
to
seems
stated
^as
"
this
but
deliver
College
dehvered
were
time
Tumulus
According
to
the
at
surgery
lectures
studies
1
on
seventeen
of
view
appointed
was
Louvain.
these
only
was
lectm^es
in
statement
he
age
des
VAcademie
(Brussels, 1866),
minute
biography
i, Oriatrike, p. 1078.
fitudes
J.
sur
"
Concours
et
Royale
pp.
of
287
van
24
de
et
des
Savants
Medecine
seq.
Helmont,
B.
This
van
mont,"
Hel-
etrangers,
de
work
which
BelgiquCf
contains
we
have
TRAVELS
we
are
at
some
TRIALS
25
that
says
AND
Doctor
graduated
he
of Medicine
of the
Van
Helmont, in his
University of Louvain.^
works, emphasised the importance of surgery
and
deplored the neglect of it by the physicians
that the genuine man
He reahsed
of his day.
of
his hands,
to use
science
ought not to be ashamed
and
later
in
devoted
years
considerable
time
to
dissections, not
carrying out
anatomy
many
(in the Galenical
style) of animals
only, but of
and women
the dead
bodies of men
whereby he
able to gain considerable
information
was
cerning
conthe nature
of disease.
Van
Helmont,
however, was
disappointed with his lectures,
because
his knowledge of surgery
at that
time
the information
based
was
merely upon
gained
by the reading of books, and he almost gave up
in despair.
the professionof medicine
"
"
It would
this
that
he
scabies
the
have
said
was
or
lady who
afflicted with
was
that
of the
Two
little while
some
to
as
after
contract
disease.
We
and
famous
more
the
with
was
the
Helmont
van
be
unfortunate
so
to
appear
science
of
medicine.
physiciansof
his
city
with
diagnosed the complaint in accordance
adust
Galen's
or
principles,as being due to
"
found
very
useful, and
although
with
"
which
it appears
we
to
Helmont'
1
to
The
life than
Authours
the
evidence
Promises,"
us
some
would
col.
acknowledge
that
the
of the
seem
author
events
to
debtednes
in-
our
dates
in
van
warrant.
iii," 7, Oriatrike, p. 7.
BAPTISTA
26 JOANNES
burnt
and
the
judged
of the
seat
Naturally
appUed.
he
indeed
him
of
was
in
the
were
cured
not
the
considered
He
of the
months
in three
disease
ointment.^
sulphur
be
to
remedies
Helmont
van
system of medicine.
in question to be one
it himself
disease
phlegm,"
result
excessively ill. The
Galenical
the falsity of the
became
convinced
salt
Galenical
orthodox
The
liver.
HELMONT
together with
choler
.
VAN
celsus,
reading of the works of Parawhom
he
to
freely acknowledges his
Helmont's
indebtedness,^ helped to liberate van
the fetters of orthodoxy in medicine
from
mind
;
but he can
only be called a follower of Paracelsus
No
in
the
doubt
limited
of
sense
that
Whilst
term.
his
shall refer
theory of the archeus, to which we
adapted from Paracelsus, and whilst
later, was
him
in beheving, for example,
he agreed with
of
in the
reality of sympathetic cures, msmy
Paracelsus's
leading doctrines he rejected. He
did
for
not,
doctrine
agree
of the
as
mercury,
instance, accept
made
as
the
in
"
The
it
the
Plague, one
he seemed
salt,sulphur and
principles,
did he
basis of all things ; nor
the
thinking
and
image
The
p. 802, and
seemly
to
of God.
Ulcers
Arcanums
elsewhere.
In
as
cosm,
micro-
envisage
his work
man
on
related,in which
the vaults of Nature, wherein
An
and
316-319,
V, "" 10-12, ibid., pp.
"
man
of bis dreams
"
pp.
ch.
of
view
more
to behold
Scab
Paracelsian
three
Paracelsus's
with
the
or
is
958
and
Secrets
959.
of
Paracelsus,'' Oriatrike,
AND
TRAVELS
hidden
are
follows
"
her
TRIALS
truths.
inmost
27
read
We
as
hath
Galen
into the
seemed
with
Vaults
to
slender
Lamp
stumbled
presently affrighted,
at first almost
in
entred
who
the
the Threshold
fell over
have
to
me,
being
entry, and
:
Therefore,
his
to his
Oyl being lavishly spent, he returned
and
told many
ing
things confusedly, concernown,
the Sepulclires,
which
he had not perceived,
nor
beheved, although he had seen
known, nor
At length, Paracelsus
them.
having entred
with a great Torch, fastened
small cord to the
a
wall, about his first paces, which he might follow
of the wayes
as
a
Companion, and Reducer
; he
aspiringto pierce whither the footstepsof mortals
The
had
their journey.
of
rout
not
yet taken
Birds
[these being birds of night] is presently
that Prometheus
it thinks
amazed
at so great a light,
...
had
entred
it dares
not,
nor
able
was
to
secretlyattempts to
seeth very many
do it. This man
Monuments, he
is long and
freely enlarged, he fills the entries
with smoak, and while he is intentive, as a greedy
devourer
of truth, his strength fails,his Torch
of
falls,his fight is extinguished in the middle
his
and
course,
fumes.
entred
with
that
he
least
nothing might
might
refused
detain
a
girdle,but
hand
my
Rope,
as
it
miserable
poor
the
is
it
and
Crook
followed
Lanthorn
and
the
from
hung
have
man,
fight of
hinder,
my
with
choaked
were
that
length
;
and
nothing
work, I indeed
Lanthorn
at my
at
at
my
back, making
BAPTISTA
28 JOANNES
return
had
Ancestors
century
the
first few
first to
England and
one
place in
of the
of
he undertook
and
seventeenth
ing
Accord-
in travel.
engaged
Switzerland
far
years
Rommelaere,
to M.
I insisting
Helmont
van
HELMONT
Therefore
described."
the
During
VAN
two
Italy,the
voyages,
second
to
other
In
parts of the Continent.
his works, he wrote
that he left the
with
of going far
Netherlands
intention
an
from
home, of forsakingmedicine, and of never
If he anticipated
returning into my Country."
hberal views abroad, he was
destined
findingmore
the
to disappointment.
Everjrvrherehe found
same
sluggishnessand ignorance," and in 1605
"
"
he
decided
to
return
to
his
native
land.
On
of the
his
the
draws
1
''
Tumulus
afflicted persons.
w^ork
on
the
portrait of
Helmont
Plague, van
true physician. Such
Ibid., p. 1079.
'
"
The
Authours
"
The
Dropsie
Promises,"
is
Unknown,"
1074
and
1075.
iii," 6, Oriatrike, p. 7,
" 11, Oriatrike,p. 510.
col.
TRAVELS
according to him,
man,
He
writes
"
AND
He
TRIALS
must
be chosen
29
by
God.
shall
'prepare,
to
the
of God,
Neighbour ;
honour
his
and
free gifts,to the comfort of his
thereforecompassion shall he his Leader : For he
truth in his heart, and
shall possess
knowledge in
his understanding ; Charity shall be his Sister,and
the mercy
of the Lord shall enlighten his ways :
For he shall employ or bestow the grace or favour
of the Lord, and the hope of gain shall not he in his
aiid will
thoughts : for the Lord is rich and liberal,
give him an hundred-fold,in an heaped up measure.
his ivorJcs,
and annoint
his hands
He will fructifle
with consolaivith blessing: He will fill
his mouth
tions,
and with the Trumpet his word, from which
his lifewith length
diseases shall flee: He will fill
of daies, his house with riches,and his Children
shall bring
icith the fear of the Lord : His footsteps
and diseases shall be in his sight,as snoio
felicity,
in an
in the Noon-day of Summer,
Valley :
open
and health
Curse
and punishment shall fleeaway,
These
the promises
behind.
shall follow him
are
he hath chosen :
of the Lord, unto Physitians whom
the blessingsof those, who
These
ivalk in the
are
the Lord
loveth those that
path of mercy : Because
work mercy
thereforewill he enlightenthem
; and
by his Spirit,the Comforter. For who is liberal as
the Lord, who
things freely,and for
gives many
all things. Blessed
small
some
matter, bestoweth
and
is the Lord, who
saves
only the merciful man,
who saves
him that is to be saved, freely. But consolation
in the tvay
shall meet
the merciful man,
of hope
he
because
Master:'
VAN
BAPTISTA
30 JOANNES
HELMONT
chosen
hath
faithful
piece of rhetoric :
descriptionis no mere
himself.
Helmont
vious
Preit is a portrait of van
to his leaving the Netherlands, he gave
up
the whole
of his estates
by deed of gift to his
This
widowed
sister. ^
He
attended
the
and
poor
fee in
medicines, asking no
he was
and
return
only persuaded to accept
;
richer
from
patients by a confessor
payment
rich men
needed
who
who
urged that otherwise
them
freely gave
his
Both
the
too
ashamed
lucrative
and
appointments
offers,preferringto remain
these
his time
sick poor.
or
with
met
successors
about
1609
no
van
Elizabeth
de
Halmale.
for
it.'
from
all
that
free
to
devote
healing the
by Rudolph's
to
who
v/as
Charel
can
he refused
response.
Helmont
As
but
later
other
and
scientific research
to
ask
to
Ernest
Emperor
In
be
would
aid
M.
be
van
rich heiress
Ranst
and
Rommelaere
marks,^
re-
the
gathered,
Helmont's
most
a
happy one, van
marriage was
and
wife proving a true
help-meet
companion
in all his strugglesand trials. Shortly after his
and
spent the
marriage, he retired to Vilvorde
1
"
Tumiilus
"
Tumulus
"
Tumulus
the
Disease
of
"
Op. cit" p.
Tumulus
"
Of
next
seven
entirelyin scientific
of chemistry,
in the
domain
heahng of the sick poor,^
free
the
in
allowing notliingto
distract
him
the
towards
attitude
His
31
of his life
years
research, mostly
and
TRIALS
AND
TRAVELS
therefrom.
orthodox
medical
but
of the
deter
it did not
of retahation
sought
for
was
one
No
him.
honourable
method
possibleto
liis enemies,
that
dishonourable.
was
so
they
No
and
"
The
"
Authours
Tumxilus
32 JOANNES
BAPTISTA
Jesuit, Joannes
reality of the
devil.
the
VAN
Roberti, who
but
cures,
appears
this work
some
written
them
to
in the
Helmcnt
van
of
be
had
the
previously,at
brother, but without
years
of J. Roberti's
instance
also believed
deemed
that
It
HELMONT
the
afterwards
publishing it. He was
himself,
persuaded to publish it by J. Roberti
received
the
he did, only after it had
which
approval of the ecclesiastical authorities. His
of
enemies
a
immediately found
large number
of
intention
of
passages
an
heretical nature
As
in the book.
who
Helmont
the last man
was
fact,van
of heresy. He
could
a
was
justly be accused
catholic, and from a modern
pious and devout
for
criticism
to
point of view is, indeed, open
with
having treated the dogmas of the Church
too
Thus, in one
place in liis
great deference.
works, for instance, he refused to speak of an
of the earth, because
earthquake as a movement
immobile.
the Church
taught that the earth was
It was
true, however, that in this treatise on the
wiU
as
Magnetic Curing of Wounds
appear
of
matter
"
when
we
deal
to
come
with
the
book
he
"
trod
far indiscreet
so
dangerous ground, and was
Let the
the very
to utter
as
just injunction :
Divine
enquire concerning God, but the NaturaHst
The
prosecutor for the
concerning Nature."
ever,
of Malines-Brussels, howecclesiastical tribunal
little moved
was
by the complaint
very
on
"
"
The
Trembling
Oriatrike, pp.
2
"
Of
the
92
and
of
Earth,
or
Earthquake,"
" 2,
93.
Magnetick
the
or
Attractive
Cui-ing of Wounds,"
TRAVELS
that
was
took
no
AND
TRIALS
But
did
rained
were
enemies, and
desist and
not
down
his
by
in the matter.
action
33
tions
denuncia-
him, without,
upon
in his determination
to
however, deterringhim
of traditionahsm
destroy the errors
in
medicine
and
of
chemical
build
to
and
medical
sounder
up
system
philosophy. In
he
pubhshed,
Supplementum
1624
at
de
Liege, a third work, entitled
Spadanis Fontibus, deahng with the properties
of Spa water
a previous writer
and, by criticising
this subject,Henri
de Heer, made
for himself
on
This year, also,saw
the publicaa fresh enemy.
tion
at Cologne of a second
edition of De Magnetica
seems
the
which
vulnerum,^
to suggest
"
says was
the Collectingof the
1625
the
was
he
book
M.
work
often
of his enemies
Broeckx
the
has
gone
of
into
succeeded
opponents
of the
Corneille
printed,only for
Helmont
van
Stripesof Censurers."
Helmont's
van
F.
in
Holy Inquisition
number
In
of proof
matter
mont's
Hel-
van
"
le
Notice
sur
thoroughly, and his
persecution very
J. B.
Helmontii
Archives
deposee aux
Manuscript Causa
Annales
de
V
de
Academie
d'ArcheMalines,"
Archiepiscopales
ix
ologie de Belgique, tome
(Antwerp, 1852), pp. 341-67,
le MagHelmont
and
sur
Interrogntoiresdu Docteur J. B. van
contain
all
the
relevent
netisme
Animal
(Antwerp, 1856),
facts
*
les
that
According
les
temps
have
been
British
known.
Museum
has
Gmerale
(Paris, 1858),
of
verify the editions
to
1662) only.
Oriatrike, Preface
Biographie
recules
plus
vmable
Nouvelle
the
to
published during
vulnerum
are
copy
Helmont's
van
of
by F. M.
van
posthiimous
Helmont.
depiiis
xxiii.
tome
De
We
Magnetica
lifetime.
edition
The
lished
(pub-
VAN
BAPTISTA
34 JOANNES
HELMONT
in his book
heretical and
as
positions contained
of 1627
appertaining to magic. In the autumn
Helmont
van
was
interrogated by Leroy, the
official of Malines, and his secretary, concerning
heretical
the
presumably
propositions. He
the book
to the
replied that he had submitted
ecclesiastical
authorities
and
abide
would
by
the decision
of the Church
concerning it. At a
himself
later interrogation,in 1630, he declared
willingto burn the offending book if the tribunal
judged this to be necessary.
During the whole of this time his enemies were
incessant
their
in
traditionahsm
and
his
The
efforts.
bigotry
The
destruction.
theologicalfaculties
universities
united
were
compass
en-
and
nental
leading conti-
unanimous
were
to
medical
of the
of most
of
forces
entire
in
their
victim
was
His
arrested.
he
books
charts
and
were
vent
imprisoned in the ConFriars
of the
Minor, or Franciscans, of
He
did
there
Brussels.
not, however, remain
than
two
more
weeks, since a request that he
be allowed
his imprisonment at
should
to serve
confiscated, and
Joannis
Baptistce Helmontii
ignem propositiones
tione
sunt
de
magnetica
notatu
et
dignce, depromptoe
vulnerum
celeb
medici
imorum
curatione
Parisiis
philosophi
ex
per
ejus disputaedita.
Additce
Europa
theologorum et
ex
autographus optima fide descriptce.
2, p. 33.
According to Rommelaere,
op. cit. See footnote
censurce
medicorum
'
was
err
tota
TRAVELS
AND
TRIALS
35
home, backed
by an exceedingly large bail
up
offered by his father-in-law,was
finallygranted.
His
as
position became,
Ferguson remarks,
something resembhng a ticket-of -leave man
under
police supervision."
"
Helmont's
Van
of misfortune
cup
not
was
yet,
the
their father.
These
removed
were
to the
The
hospitalat Vilvorde in charge of the nuns.
nuns
attending them
promised to administer
Helmont's
van
remedies, but, after they had received
the two patients, they refused to give any
other
result
The
than
that
the
Galenical
orthodox
both
ones,
with
the
died.
of
conditions
Helmont's
van
ment
imprison-
been
relaxed
to have
after some
appear
that he regained his hberty
it seems
years, and
before he died,though the whole matter
is wrapped
in
obscurity ;
and
it
that
not
was
he
until
two
years
cleared
completely
of the charge of heresy. In 1642
he pubhshed,
his work
at Antwerp,
on
docFevers, Febrium
trina inaudita, which
followed by a further
was
edition,pubhshed at Cologne, in 1644, containing
1
and
John
381.
of Kelly
Catalogue of
Books
Pharmaceutical
Young
p.
Ferguson
and
was
in
Durris,
the
the
Alchemical, Chemical
Collection
of
the
late James
BAPTISTA
36 JOANNES
three
addition
VAN
HELMONT
other
monographs, deahng
respectivelywith the Disease of the Stone, the
Plague, and the Errors of the Galenists, the
general title of the book being Opuscula Medica
in
iiiaudita.
the
In
intervening
happened
to
(1643),
year
which
Helmont
van
accident
an
nearly cost
in which,
room,
Writing in a closed
of the cold, he had caused
of
account
a
on
pan
overcome
by
burning coals to be placed, he was
the fumes
(carbon monoxide). Fortunately his
daughter, with a sound instinct,removed
young
his Hfe.
him
the
to
this
use
medical
He
in time.
brazier
recovered
experience
and
illustrate
to
able
was
of
one
his
theories.^
the end
Towards
and, weakened
he contracted
of 1644
his labours
by
and
pleurisy;
the
by
ment
treat-
him, he
hated
He
succumbed.
was
by those (and they
and folHes his sharp
not few) whose
errors
were
intellect had
pierced. Not only, however, was
he
loved
by his family, but he had earned
had
which
been
meted
out
to
and
devotion
the
nimiber
of
disease
and
men
gratitude
and
death.
he found
which
of its
some
himseK
an
the
had
his work
By
edifice of science
the
he
women
of
immense
rescued
he
had
it,he had
from
raised
that
in
rebuilt and
strengthened
thereby earned for
in the history of
foundations, and
imperishablename
thought.
1
"
The
Authority
or
Priviledge
"
Oriatrike, Preface
by F.
Of
the
of
the
Disease
910.
M.
van
Helmont,
Duumvirate,"
of the
Stone,"
CHAPTER
IV
MYSTICISM
AND
MAGIC
(a) Epistemology
Concerning
wrote
"
follows
as
Mysticism
is
peculiar
and
of
synthesis
The
in
of
scholastic
it
by
of
of
the
late
F.R.S.
:
(London,
The
on
Modern
of
tional
func-
nature.
C.
1915),
" 28,
of
pp.
and
37
synthesis
in
of
The
works
136.
Magic
of
criticism
word
by
of
is, of
the
wide
the
from
Professor
Cf.
futiHties
Selection
edited
p.
unity."
with
not
57.
tion
percep-
the
his
this
gives
the
The
Intuition,"
56
the
direct
opens
him,
1909),
exercised,
concrete
out
he
Massey,
is
'
and
Mystic
(London,
Natiire
is
reason.
by
C.
it
opponent
philosophy,
Thoughts
"
grove
keen
employed
Barrett,
and
brought
attack
an
Writings
their
and
man
intuition
organic
an
is well
point
course,
'
immediately,
Helmont.
van
of
consciousness
elements
truth
of
and
province
for
recover
related
its
Massey
apprehension
through
or
whatever
in
to
C.
and
experience,
seeks
C.
certitude
Thought,
vital
energies,
in
operations
claims
late
spiritual principles
It
the
mysticism
H.
W.
S.
F,
Red-
of Experience,
38 JOANNES
BAPTISTA
denotation
the
of
dianoetic
HELMONT
VAN
but as
usage,
i.e. the discursive
modern
reason,
signifying
ratio-
or
the
to
faculties,in contradistinction
strations
Not
noetic.
by mere
argument or the demonof deductive
logicis a true understanding
of things to be attained.
He writes :
cinative
"
The
made
little
but
Because
follow
the
to passe,
comes
of the
contrary."
And
"
again
in
by
stration,
demon-
us, and
by a
before, joyned
as
onely is
Syllogisme :
with
ing
doubt-
doth
necessarily
part of the premises : hence
that it is composed with a doubt
every
weaker
have
distinct
more
yet it remains
:
it
knowledge which we
was
already before
conclusion
them
into
Real
circle."
knowledge
in
its
nature,
very
involve intuition ; for it to be possiblethe knower
become
and the thing known
must, in some
way,
identified
1
"
"
must,
Oriatrihe^ p. 26.
" 61,
AND
MYSTICISM
*'
The
nothing
of
but
unity of the
the
that
himself
thus
Helmont
truth
mystic
the
of
the
on
"
van
immediate
thing, is
approach
understanding, and
thing understood."
It is recorded
39
standingness of
under
very
MAGIC
he
If
could
man
would
but
pletely
com-
all
know
gives expression to
things :
this great
Our
"
How
then
Van
Helmont
is this
indicates
less than
Not
he
does
Indeed,
any
modern
be attained
necessary
scientific
"
indicates, not
discourse, but
True
scientific research.
to
requisites.
philosopher
experiment.
of
need
the
upon
life affords a demonstration
his whole
of natiu-al
two
to
insist
his devotion
the
knowledge
of
ledge
know-
phenomena is to be gained, he
indeed
by a naked descriptionof
of
demonstration
by handicraft
fire."="
The
"
hunting,
or
searching
out
of
Sciences,"
" 55,
Oriatrike, p. 25.
Ibid., " 56, Oriatrike, p. 25.
The
ignorant Natural
Philosophy of
Galen," " 10, Oriatrike,p. 45.
2
'
"
Aristotle
and
BAPTISTA
40 JOANNES
HELMONT
VAN
No
is necessary.
something still more
philosopher,denying the realityof the spiritual,
able to explain how
it is possible for
has been
the
from
the
mind
to
particular to the
pass
gained
general,that is, from particularinstances
by experience,to induce a natural law or general
is something magical in it. It
theory. There
of the
indicates
Helmont
partakes ^as van
But
"
"
"
of
if
But
God
happy
in it
the
by
He
of revelation.
nature
same
God
know
writes
conceive
of his early
account
Helmont's
reading van
studies,already quoted in Chapter II, one cannot
but be impressed by the importance he attached
he
this attitude
his dream-experience. In
to
place in
persistedtliroughout his life. In one
In
his works
we
read
follows
as
God
Man
in
We
1
"
whole
sleep,the
In
"
himself
Dreams,
hunting,
through
or
the
therefore
perhaps, be
may,
The
is
that
effect."
inclined
searching
out
to
of
unto
nearer
^
criticise
Sciences,"
van
" 57,
Oriatrike, p. 25.
2
"
Of
the
Magnetick
or
Attractive
Curing
of
Wounds,"
AND
MYSTICISM
MAGIC
41
put in dreams
; but we
remember
that it is especiallyin dreams
must
that the products of unconscious
thought the
strates
psychology demonimportance of which modern
manifest
become
though it would,
;
to require some
indeed, seem
specialdegree of
of mystic insight,shall we
intellectual acumen
the
^for consciousness
to
separate, from
say ?
dross, that which is of value in what remains
should
for it of such
certainly
products. We
for the faith he
Helmont
"
"
"
"
hesitate
to
recommend
Helmont
in the
But
do
It
they
was
dream
rehance
follow
to
van
anyone
he placed in his dreams.
to
appear
which caused
not
led
have
him
him
finallyto
astray.
devote
(6) Ontology
Van
Helmont's
deeply rehgious attitude of
of his writings.
mind
is evident
in every
one
of
the source
His epistemology looks to God
as
the
all knowledge, his ontology finds in God
is
the
of all being. For
source
him. Nature
ComTYiand
of God, whereby a thing is that which
it is, arid doth that ivhich it is comtnanded
to do
he writes :
Created things
Elsewhere
act.''
or
do
alwayes respect the will of their Creator,
which
alone neglecteth."
man
he
Aristotle's
entirely
theory of causation
"
"
**
The
ignorant
Natural
Philosophy
of
Aristotle
Galen,"
2
"
and
42 JOANNES
BAPTISTA
VAN
HELMONT
latter and
material
cause
as
"
following chapter
The
efficient
the
"
shall
we
"
"
see
"
or
and
"
its
rather
than
impressed
on
with
of
fermentation
he
saw
therein
of Nature's
It
must
the
successful
"
fermentation
quality determined
in
present
Van
Helmont
upon.
chemist
; he sought to found
facts and
theories
chemical
operated
water.
principle,
quasi-spiritual
whose
master
workman,"
as
"
be
to
the
"
activity is manifested
this activity is excited
ferments
by certain
The
it.
fullyin
more
^he considered
is
cause
archeus
apart from
existence
no
the
matter
essentiallya
his philosophy on
known
to him,
as
logic as Aristotle had done, and,
the phenomena
of the alcoholic
grape juice and malt, he thought
clue to the deepest mysteries
a
was
activities.
as
critic
thinker.
than
of scholasticism
His
cerns
conmore
as
theory is at
The
obscure
and
fantastic.
following
once
Thomson's
History
epitome of it, quoted from
as
of Chemistry, is perhaps as clear an account
be hoped for :
can
constructive
own
a
Helmont,
particular
According to Van
of
dispositionof matter, or a particularmixture
"
that
of
matter
a
body.
is not
The
necessary
for
archeus, by
the
its
formation
sole
power,
MYSTICISM
all bodies
draws
This
exists.
not
from
formal
substance, nor
seed
which
and
it creates
the
being
MAGIC
its
the
quality
of
action
it
the
neither
can
It
accident.
an
43
water, when
ferment, in
determines
which
AND
of
ferment
a
mean
archeus, is
be
called
pre-exists in the
is
after its
death
which
of
nature
in
idea.
It is the
true
tion
founda-
of all the
functions
of
organised
own
of life,and
bodies
bodies
the
its
own
it
fermentation."
(c) Psychology
Turning
doctrines,
Helmont's
psychological
notice
in the
first place that,
we
opinion, he regarded the
contrary to current
stomach, and especiallyits upper mouth, as the
seat of the sensitive
soul,from whence, by means
to
now
van
of the
brought
chapters
several
being
1
from
of
the
his
Thomas
to
the
devoted
works
of
earth.
to
light are
^
this
In
the
subject,
reasons
made
sun
diffused
was
are
to
Thomson
The
History of Chemistry
(The
and
183
184.
Ill, London,
Library,
1830), pp.
a
A Mad
Foolish
Seat
of the Soul,"
or
Idea," and "The
Oriatrike, pp. 272-88.
National
"
No.
JOANNES
44
nised
in
BAPTISTA
some
system.
nervous
of
of
swallowing
remarkable
in the
of
course
due
as
cases
HELMONT
VAN
to
the
sympathetic
poisons. Soon
clearly felt his
The
in his stomach.
thought to be concentrated
of a couple of hours.
feelingpassed in the course
Attempts to reinduce it by repeating doses of the
drug proved unsuccessful.
The
brain,according to him, is the executive
of the conceipts of the soul, as it sits
member
the sinews
chief over
and
muscles, in respect of
in respect of sense
motion
or
feeling,it
; but
possesseth in it self, the faculties of memory,
the
whilst
minde
will, and
:
Imagination
it was
sitteth in the
sensitive
soul, whereto
after the fall."
Madness,
consequently bound
he regarded as a disease,not of the mind, but of
the
soul ; it only appears
affect
sensitive
to
"
"
"
the
mind
The
mind
this
because
immortal,
of the Divinity."
is
bound
is
and
"
is
the
to
the neerest
soul.
image
"
Mad
or
Foolish
{op. cit.yp.
6ane)," which
{Hyoscyamus
is
an
says
error,
aconitine,
a
"
The
"
The
or
due
"
was
aconitum
aconitum
is
not
writes
aconite
to
to
benzaconine.
Seat
Oriatrike^ p.
[hen-
henbane
Napellus,
{Aconitum Napellus^
the ancients
as
a poison.
three
alkaloids, aconine,
Helmont
known
are
herb
since
wolfsbane
well
L.). The plant was
Its physiological effects
and
the
Van
niger, L.).
is, monkshood,
that
186)
son
Thom-
of the
312.
" 13,
AND
MYSTICISM
MAGIC
45
Van
"
"
"
influence
upon
man,
is to
tions, rather,
from
In
he
him
has
be
of whose
source
found
Man
sprung.
is a " twofold
there
which
the
in the
inchna-
seed
possesses
Bias : To
where-
free
will.
wit. One
existeth
but
the
motion
by a natural
;
other is voluntary, which
existeth as a mover
to
internal
it self by an
To
this "internal
wilhng."
bias
Helmont
attributed
or
will, van
in which
potent powers,
respect he seems
very
to be in agreement
with modern
deed,
thought. Inare
we
only just beginning to reahse
^
"
how
may
open
the
at
*
"A
"
to
up
present
Vacuum
The
Bias
or
of
us
are, and
further
possibihtieshardly
moment.
In
this
research
reahsed
connection
it
BAPTISTA
46 JOANNES
will be
of interest
the
work
on
which
the
Magnetic
In
Curing
is treated
matter
Power
(d) The
with
deal
to
with
HELMONT
VAN
in
op
van
of
Helmont's
Wounds,
in
detail.
some
Magnetism
of his
contemporaries,
Helmont
markable
van
was
impressed by the reproperties of the lodestone, and he
grouped along with such phenomena, under the
of
general name
magnetism," such other cases
of (apparent) action at a
known
to him
as
were
of
distance, as, for example, the attraction
for pieces of chaff,etc., the hehorubbed
amber
of consonance
tropism of plants and the phenomenon
exhibited
as
by a couple of viohn strings,
of sjonpaof instances
together with a number
in his
w^ell accredited
thetic magic which
were
surprisingthat a
day, but in which it may seem
himself
should have
of so great acumen
as
man
of
Of
believed.
these, the behef in the cure
wounds
by Paracelsus's
sympathetic ointment,^
which
itself,but
was
applied not to the wound
been
it had
wherewith
to the
bloody weapon
as
a
serve
typical sample. Van
inflicted,
may
the
Helmont
on
Magnetic
strove, in his work
Curing of Wounds, to show the rationale of this
marvel
can
one
only reflect on the difficulty
; and
the
which
even
experience in
greatest minds
from
the errors
of their age.
freeingthemselves
of
he writes concerning the magnetism
When
common
many
much
"
See
curious
1920),
H.
S.
Medical
for
Redgrove
"
The
Powder
Superstition," Bygone
full details
as
to
this.
a
:
Sympathy
Beliefs (London,
of
MAGIC
AND
MYSTICISM
47
for his
"1 uses
their
.a
11 in itself.
awakened
"
of witches
is
less may
for evil purposes,
no
He
for good.
suggests that in
case
certainly not
God-given, and, if it
power
It is indeed
awakened
be
the
But
like.
in the
ends
own
one
He
method
writes
for
as
There
doth
inhabit
in
the
Soul, a certain
of God, naturally
as
we
her, inasmuch
"
*"
Of
the
Magnetick
90-97, Oriatrike,pp.
or
780
Attractive
and
781,
Curing
of
Wounds,"
48 JOANNES
BAPTISTA
VAN
HELMONT
but
sense
But
we
do not
the
with
tremble
at the
name
Scripture,interpret it
of
in
Magick,
a
good
"
Yet
And
we
so
have
that, under
that
we
understand
knowledge of things,
for acting, being
and
the
most
potent Power
alike natural
with Adam,
to us
not
extinguished
become
by Sin, not obliterated, but as it were
drowsie, therefore wanting an Excitement.
is
Therefore
we
shew, that
Magnetism
exercised, not indeed
by Satan ; but by that
which
belongs not to Satan ; and therefore that
the
"
most
profound
inbred
Word
MYSTICISM
Power
this
stood
the
which
doth
as
that
it hath
it
MAGIC
is co-natural
abusively dedicated
49
unto
us,
hath
Satan, as if he were
thereof : that
the Magical Power
sleepin us since Sin, and therefore
Patron
were
need
of
that
Whether
"
AND
to
stirrer up.
Exciter
be
the
holy Spiritby
mentions
to have
Illumination, as the Church
of
happened in the Eastern Magi or Wise Men
the
which
at
this day sometimes
East, and
happens in others : or Satan doth also for some
foregoing submissive
Engagement, stir up the
in Witches
And
in such
same
:
as
these, the
Excitation
is as it were
by a waking sleepiness,
by a Catochus, and therefore is imperfect in
Evil in regard of the end,
regard of the manner.
Obscure
in regard of the Meanes, and Wicked
in
regard of the Author : Nor doth the Turn-coatthis
impostor suffer that the Witch should know
Power
to be natural
her self,whereby he
unto
hold her the more
fast bound
to himseK,
may
least the exercise of so noble a Power
or
being
stirred
should
up,
Wickedness,
himself
therefore
neither
at her
to stir it up
prostratedher
"
the
Also
Man
Cabal, to
incHne
hath
he
otherwise
commands
the
Witch
Rains
known
how
hath
wholly
Tj^ant.
is able
to
the
pleasure,who
own
than
through
the
Art
of
himself, of
so
at his own
great a Power
Pleasure, and these
called
are
Adeptists ; or
Obtainers, whose
Governour
also,is the Spiritof God."
cause
an
excitement
in
"Of
the
Magnetick
or
Attractive
Curing
of
Wounds,"
BAPTISTA
JOANNES
50
tliink,are
ideas, we
These
the
of
HELMONT
VAN
of
much
interest
of modern
results
experimental
of abnormal
research in the domain
psychology,
the phenomena of telepathy,
as concerns
especially
hypnotism, telekinensis,and the voluntary production
of phantasms of the living.
view
in
Helmont
Van
further
goes even
of man's
in his estimate
and
magical power,
potency
suggests that something of this power resides in
of
the
the
outward
more
that
so
man,
blood
possess
the
mummy,
dead
Thus
does
sublime
the
these
of
fat
the skull of a
upon
of a boar
and
bear.
a
Helmont
van
oscillate from
which
the
and
man
found
moss
seem,
to the
it were,
to
ridiculous.
In
as
be
may
that " Nature
categories,it
asked,
is on
put his assertion
acts
side a Magitianess, and
by her own
every
Almost
Phantasie
? ^
identically the same
in the Occult Philosophy of Corwords
appear
Novalis
recent
in more
nehus
Agrippa, and
old
of these
the opinion of both
voiced
years
ought
to
we
"
"
All
that
he declared
when
philosophers,
able,"
experience is magic and only magically explicthereby returning, perhaps, the only
that is ultimatelypossibleto the eternal
answer
Why ? of things.
of
several
devotes
Joseph Ennemoser
pages
his History of Magic
to quotations from
van
occult
"
" 150,
Of
the
Magnetick
Oriatrike, p. 789
or
Attractive
(wrongly
Curing of Wounds,"
779).
numbered
Helmont's
work
are
so
clear
in
He
refers
Helmont's
by
views
Deleuze,
in
he
whilst
the
found
writings
in
agree.
van
which
found
of
who
Helmont's
animal
van
take
with
that,
ideas,
things
has
he
truths.
works
"
illusory
Helmont,
the
van
magnetism
incomprehensible
great
ment.
com-
intimates
many
and
they
need
to
latter
the
many
all
judgment,
study
them
"
of
that
deahng
essay
concerning
notions
not
as
an
Curing
adding
writings,
to
51
Magnetic
themselves
has
superstitious
in
the
on
other
and
Wounds
MAGIC
AND
MYSTICISM
care
will,
also
this
With
seriously
we
to
think,
CHAPTER
ALCHEMICAL
Researches
(a)
have
We
of
already
Professor
E.
considerable
chemical
which
Brown
the
the
first
The
of
anhydride,
calls
concerning
enough,
chemists,
until
"
it
1
Op.
James
the
Earliest
Joseph
His
gas.
substance
Black,
rediscovered
has
strangely
by
the
carbonic
tions
observa-
were,
in
in
succeeding
of the
middle
the
gas,
naming
been
sometimes
186.
Brown
Campbell
Times
from
discovery
dioxide,
acid
Black
air."
cit., p.
carbon
as
this
century,
fixed
quoted
is his
attention
entirely neglected
almost
eighteenth
for
carbonic
or
ability
achievements
Helmont's
known
now
gas
be
And
authorities.
van
that
chemistry
of the
other
the
Helmont's
van
could
investigator
of
works
to
of
Lavoisier."
to
his
Campbell
doubtedly
chemist, un-
great
testimony
chemical
James
"
prior
that
to
at
far
how
"
as
greatest
similar
a
as
lived."
his
in
Helmont
van
superior
was
him
of
writes
with
indicates
he
who,
Thomson,
deals
length,
high opinion
expressed
by
very
chemist
Meyer.
knowledge
in
the
of Chemistry,
History
much
as
von
Gases
on
quoted
Helmont
van
age
ACHIEVEMENTS
to
the
Present
History
Day
52
of Chemistry
(London,
1913),
from
p.
202.
ALCHEMICAL
ACHIEVEMENTS
53
the honour
of the discovery,
erroneously awarded
not
graciously
though he himself refers
very
of van
Helmont.
to the
previous observations
the
It is to van
owe
Helmont, indeed, that we
word
itself ;
natural
philosophers
gas
very
that
some
came
after,
previous to him, and
substances
as
being mere
regarded all gaseous
of
varieties
Van
Helmont
air.
distinguishes
be condensed,
between
which
could
a
vapour,
"
and
distinction
has
not
to
"
"
gas
the
*'
"
be
he
tells
Auntients
is
mist,
"
subtile
more
or
distilled
"
had
"
designation
the
Gas,"
thing than
Oylinesses,although
or
thicker
times
he
mind.
in
the
choosing
that
us
far
be many
In
valid.
fine
than
Air
"
known
now
Chaos
he
of
writes,
vapour,
yet, it
as
and
again,
hitherto, by the
;
Spirit,unknown
of Gas, which
neither
be concan
name
new
strained
reduced
into a visible
by Vessels, nor
body, unless the seed being first extinguished."
is of interest,
The
origin of the word
gas
the fact that
the concept
and
dated
spirit anteof years
that of
is
by thousands
gas
of
significant,because judging by the remarks
of the more
extreme
some
sophic
opponents of philoit might be gathered that the
spiritualism,
than
idea of
an
justifiable
unspirit is nothing more
of that of
extension
gas." In point
"
this
call
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
'
"
The
The
Essay of
Fiction
tui-es,"" U,
of
Oriatrike, p.
106.
Complexions
69.
and
Mix-
54 JOANNES
BAPTISTA
VAN
HELMONT
of the
thought
distinction
drawn
old
alchemical
between
matter
the two
In
the
philosophers,the
and
not
spirit was
"
their
roots
in
animism.
Helmont
Van
called
dioxide
carbon
gas, gas
of its
the
wild
account
on
sylvestre,or
gas,
that it
apparent incondensability. He observed
acid
is produced when
acetic
calcium
acts
on
carbonate
distilled vinegar acts
on
{i.e.when
crab
of wood, coal
stones), by the combustion
and tallow and in the production by fermentation
of wine
and
mineral
He
beer.^
and
waters,
of its presence
Naples. He observed
aware
the
burning
of
in his
apparatus
1
"
The
"
The
Gas
of
Fiction
noticed
in the
that
candle
the
Body,"
elsewhere.
but
stomach,
he
and
del Cane
Grotto
the
of
Water,"
"" 67
68;
near
was
of suitable
bodies
Elementary
and
was
extinguished
capped
sadly handi-
gas
the
in
occiu'rence
study
the
in
its
"
Of
Complexions
Flatus's
ibid., pp.
or
426
and
Windie
and
tures,"
MixBlasts
427, and
ALCHEMICAL
ACHIEVEMENTS
failed to
and
in consequence
this gas and others
which, Hke
carbon
distinguishbetween
he obtained.
dioxide, are
and
combustion
which
55
Of gases
non-supporters
of
themselves
incombustible, he
made
to have
sulphur dioxide (formed
appears
when
sulphur burns in air),nitrous oxide (laughing
by
gas), nitrogen peroxide (a red gas, obtained
the dissolution,in the presence
of air, of many
metals
in strong nitric acid or aqua
fortis)and
to recording the
probably others. In addition
in the human
of gas sylvestre
occurrence
stomach,
his works
make
further
his studies
and
was
being
sometimes
as
to
the
voided
hindrance
the
was
which
of
mention
we
first matter
to
inflammable
an
by
the
the
gas
large intestine.
real
progress
of
material
things.
This
Oriatrike,pp,
82 ^t seq.
BAPTISTA
56 JOANNES
HELMONT
VAN
Van
by
to
in which
some
an
enriched
the science
of
chemistry
other valuable
observations
and experiments,
besides those dealing with gases.
ally
Especihis credit and indicative
of his originality
many
are
Conservation
on
of
ace
he
realising,not
chemical
but
element
as
also the
law
have
to
seems
the
only
later
it
within
come
nature
of
defined
by
true
was
persistence,which
for Lavoisier clearlyto formulate
in
it remained
the early part of the nineteenth
He
century.
clearlyreahsed, in certain instances at any rate,
that
exist
to
metals, for example, continue
throughout a series of chemical
metamorphoses.
rather
This was
novel
It
notion
in his day.
a
for example, commonly
believed
by the
was,
Boyle,
that
alchemists
solution
of
copper.
of the
In
Spa,
blue
this
idea
and
the
notion
the
work
on
into
and
he
lition,
else to its demo-
one
copper
the Waters
is controverted
any
substitution
in
transmuted
was
than
that
immersed
was
for
it of
which
is
the
more
deposited
"
iron
vitriol it
Helmont'
more
the
iron
van
contributed
rational
when
of its
The
was
Fiction
of
Elementary
Complesions
and
tures,"
Mix-
ALCHEMICAL
ACHIEVEMENTS
originalform, by
he
studied
reactions
as
the
well
of copper.^
quantitative side of
means
as
the
quahtative
credit,seeing how
especiallyto his
was
paid to the
is
how
much
the
balance
of
science
in
Moreover,
chemical
fact which
"
of his most
One
use.
57
little attention
his
day,
chemistry owes
remarkable
and
and
yet
to
its
valuable
(c) The
The
this
conclusion
First
that
Matter
Helmcnt
van
drew
from
last-mentioned
experiment may,
however,
rather surprisingand, perhaps, disappointseem
ing
of science, whose
to the modern
m.an
views,
unhke
those of this seventeenth
century thinker,
rather
than
mechanistic
are
vitahstic, and who
regards combination, rather than development, as
the essential factor in the evolution of the complex
from the simple. In silica,
Helmont
van
thought
he had discovered
He
named
elementary earth.
it
quellem," and the fact that the same
weight
be obtained
of quellem could
from
of its
one
"
"A
Third
Modern
2
The
method
precipitate
Earth,"
ch. XV,
on
Pharmacapolion
695.
Dispensatory,"
Cf. "A
ibid.,
"
55,
alkali
and
467.
p.
to
Paradox,"
is to
the
fuse
silica
the
by
glass with
mercury
is described.
to
of
means
52, and
Cf. "A
Oriatrike, pp.
" 37, ibid., p. 478.
" 20 ; ibid.,p. 1001, where
50
an
an
"
The
acid.
See
Power
Treatise
of
of
then
"
The
cines,"
Medi-
Fevers,"
quantitative experiment
BAPTISTA
58 JOANNES
VAN
HELMONT
used
in preparing this, led
compounds as was
him
to deny to quellem, or earth, any
or
power
The sand,
potency in the generation of things.
read
of the earth," we
in his
the Element
or
and
doth
natural
to
never
concur
works,
seminal
rightly
generations." Fire he very
element
denied
to be an
or
anything material at
of air, as we
have
all.^ His treatment
already
suggested,is, on the other hand, neither clear
nor
satisfactory. He regarded air as being an
for no
element
good reason, it was
very
; but
excluded from his theory of the genesisof material
denied
to possess
bodies, and was
weight.
any
have
Water, as we
already said, he regarded as
of
first matter," or material
being the
cause,
of this theory, he
all things. In substantiation
described
experiments he carried out, one
many
"
"
"
it is
"
follows
as
much
is of
of which
took
an
interest.
His
account
of
Earthen
Vessel, in which
put
dried in a
that had
been
pounds of Earth
I moystened
with
Rain-water,
Furnace, which
of a
Stem
and I implanted therein the Trunk
or
at
Willow
Tree, weighing five pounds ; and
length,five years being finished,the Tree sprung
from
thence, did weigh 169 pounds, and about
the
Earthen
But
I moystened
three
ounces
:
distilled
water
with
Vessel
or
Rain-water,
large,
need) and it was
(alwayes when there was
200
1
2
"
"The
"
The
1, ibid.,p. 50.
*'
The
Earth,"
ACHIEVEMENTS
ALCHEMICAL
59
the
implanted
into
It is curious
that
he
should
increased
possibiHty of
weight being due
from
air.
consider
the
the
(d) The
have
neglected to
proportion of the
to
Transmutation
derived
material
of
Metals
chemistry, if such it
be called,with which
van
Helmont, it seems,
may
be credited, is of a most
must
surprising nature.
He
claims
that he accomplished the transmutation
of base metal into gold,though imacquainted
with
the composition of the agent he used
to
effect this marvel, which
was
given to him by a
of this extraordinary
stranger. Let the account
The
final achievement
be related
occurrence
"
that
"
is the
makes
The
in his
own
constrained," he
am
there
which
in
Fiction
Silver
of
which
Stone
;
because
Elementary
words
writes,
"
to
makes
I have
believe
Gold, and
at
Complexions
distinct
and
tures,"
Mix-
60 JOANNES
BAPTISTA
HELMONT
VAN
turns, made
hand, of one
projection with my
thousand
grain of the Powder, upon some
grains
of hot Quick-silver ; and the buisiness succeeded
Books
do promise ; a Circle
in the Fire, even
as
of many
People standing by, together with a
He
first
of us all.
who
ticklingAdmiration
the Gold-making Powder, had
likewise
me
gave
of it,as might be sufficient
also, at least as much
hundred
thousand
for changing two
Pounds
of
Gold :
For he gave me
perhaps half a grain of
and three quarters
that Powder, and nine omices
of Quick-silver were
thereby transchanged : But
of one
that Gold, a strange Man, being a Friend
evenings acquaintance, gave me."
.
In
other
two
alchemical
places in
transmutation
his works
as
he
refers
illustrative
of
to
the
manner
"
For
[which
seen
"
the
I have
makes
divers
gold]
times
with
real transmutation
handled
that
stone
"
"
The
Tree
of
Life," Oriatrike, p.
807.
ACHIEVEMENTS
ALCHEMICAL
61
"
"
"
it
violent
and
was,
made
it
as
Immortal
an
We
alchemical
1
Cf.
"
The
"
Life
account
the
same
the
here
transmutation
Position
is
Eternal,"
of
man
Oriatrike, pp.
almost
the
the
realityof
w^ho
was
no
Demonstrated,"
repeated in
motive.
religiovis
is
to
testimony
751
same
and
752, where
words
and
the
with
BAPTISTA
62 JOANNES
VAN
HELMONT
his
that
much
contain
is
least,regard him as
good chemist to have
having been a sufficiently
been able to distinguishreal gold from
a spurious
of it. In any
imitation
case, however, modern
science is acquainted with no
reagent which, in
the proportions stated, would
convert
mercury
into any substance
resembling gold in the least.
There
is nothing more
extraordinary in the
works of van
Helmont, or in the whole literature
the words
have
of alchemy, than
we
quoted
in other
two
or
though there are one
passages
scientific
Modern
which
writers
parallelthem.
;
but
theories
we
must,
at
"
research
thus
Not
this
van
elements
Helmont's
of the
science
with
acquainted
manipulated
"
The
name
elusive
is indicated
transmutations
the
tion
evolu-
to
fact of the
the
demonstrated
has
which
the
forces
unknown
the
draw
unknown
old-time
as
conclusion
to
modern
alchemists
were
to-day which
they
alchemical
of Eirenseus
adept who
Philalethes
under
wrote
had
high
ACHIEVEMENTS
ALCHEMICAL
of
opinion
from
Helmont
van
works
his
relative
63
with
and
quotation
the subject of our
to
this
arising therefrom
a
in that
honour
I most
What
"
noble
Naturalist
Secret
all to
all men,
yet who
of in this
to be Master
This
"
speak
what
is evident
have
no
not
God
but
other
character
live
may
too.
to flatter
him, who
World
to the whole
reveal
not
he
what
knows
point
doth
in his
of him, and
(besides
Writings)
him
to
am
like to
remain
When
these
words
the
saw
the
"
Eirenseus
1677),pp.
279
Philalethes"
and
280.
lightof publication,
already dead, but it is
we
may
Ripley
be
allowed
Revived
to
(London,
JOANNES
64
but
adeptship,
early
met
is
He
details
Redgrove's
authorities
gift
the
the
of
stranger's
to
concerning
Alchemy
there
have
this
:
referred
Philalethes's
of
of
the
it
at
he
meantime
have
stranger
Stone.
whole
the
and
is
very
may
philosophic
identity
"
the
been
however,
shrouded
in
darkness.
impenetrable
appears
Eirenseus
have
and
evidence,
no
seemingly
1
the
in
for
responsible
HELMONT
attainment
Helmont
van
question
his
that
age/
There
"
only
not
assume,
VAN
BAPTISTA
been
born
extraordinary
Ancient
to.
and
in
1623.
H.
see
personage
Modern,
further
For
"
60,
and
S.
the
VI
CHAPTER
ADVANCEMENT
THE
OF
THE
HEALING
ART
(a) Physiology
For
that
to
prefers
to
for
end
its
call
the
which
mankind
of
hmnan
life.
understanding
to
other
science
it
to
order
all
Helmont,
van
sciences
is, indeed,
it
healing of the
is heir, and
To
of
(whichever
art
or
the
understand
both)
the
the
one
has
diseases
prolongation
necessitates
of
nature
which
manifold
disease
cure
servient
sub-
were
an
disease, and
of
nature
in
disease,
is essential
of the
of the
structure
knowledge
human
functions
and
the
of
its
body
parts.
During the early part of the seventeenth
century
there
considerable
of interest
was
a
awakening
in
anatomical
physiological and
investigation,
researches
being undertaken
important
many
and
discoveries
important
being thereby
many
On
Helmont
does
made.
the
not
whole, van
to have
seem
as
one
profited as much
might have
of the
in physiology
more
expected by the work
of
his
progressive
Harvey's
contemporaries.
book
the discovery of the circulation
announcing
of the blood, for example, was
published in 1628,
but
either
van
alternatively,
With
the
heart
5
did
Galenists
(of different
the
Helmont
to
did
not
accept
not
its
read
it,
or,
conclusions.
still
65
BAPTISTA
66 JOANNES
and
veins
of the
he
function
did
not
VAN
realise
HELMONT
the
true
nature
of
respiration,though he rightly
which
view
rejected the current
supposed the
of the inspired air to be chieflythat of
function
heat
of the
heart ; and,
cooHng the extreme
with his orthodox
brethren, he beheved, in spite
of its evident
of
impossibility,in the passage
the right to the
blood through the septum from
of the heart, going so far, indeed,
left ventricle
mechanism
to
to invent
a
as
explain why the
could
blood
only pass through the septum in
whereas
direction
the
this
hypothetical vital
also
On
the
contrariwise.
spirits could
pass
Helmont's
contribution
other
to
hand, van
of no
little importance.
It is
physiology was
tended
to
true, perhaps, that the iatrochemists
over-emphasise the purely chemical
aspect of the
of hving organisms, but it was
functions
certainly
better that this aspect should be over-emphasised
than that it should be neglected. Moreover, whilst
Paracelsus
postulated hypothetical chemical
^in the
principles ^his salt,sulphur and mercury
human
Helmont
body, van
sought, by such
his disposal,to identify the
at
as
were
means
chemical
of the
actual
various
nature
juices.
In the chapter on
his
Mysticism and Magic
have
physiologicalviews
already been touched
he adopted
upon, and the doctrine of archei,which
been
from
Paracelsus, has
briefly described.
the
whole
of the
Helmont,
According to van
of the human
body is controlled by a
economy
quasi-spiritual principles,
hierarchy of these
aU being the archeus
chief of them
of the stomach.
"
"
"
"
THE
stomach
The
HEALING
ART
67
he
these
to
two
"
he
organs
indicate
the
gave
therefrom
name
that
is the
duumvirate," to
of the whole
body.
government
van
Against the doctrine of the four humours
Helmont
fulminated, though, as we have already
not possible for him
to free himself
seen, it was
all the
of the
orthodox
errors
entirely from
medical
teaching of his day, from which his notion
of the passage
of a secretion
from the spleen to the
stomach
In particular
was
presumably borrowed.
he accused
the Galenists of treatingthe bile as an
Van
excrement.
Hehnont
as
"
shall
we
see
in
"
"
is in
that
^
the
held
"A
of
some
to-day.
Passive
Humourists,"
its
features
According
Deceiving
and
to
identical
the
Ignorance
curxcnt
of
the
1048.
with
view
Schooles,
BAPTISTA
68 JOANNES
of
his
thought
as
the
time
of
process
of foodstuffs
in
housewife
the
vegetables.
HELMONT
in
digestion was
heat : digestion was
envisaged
coction, achieving the solution
prime
be
to
VAN
agent
similar
manner
Helmont
Van
of this.
He
points
indicates
of
that
from
soup
prepares
to
in which
and
meat
out
that
the
different
in
into
blood.
He
Authour
of
the
possibil
im-
powers
different
not
digestion are
only
in different individual
members
animals, but even
of the same
species,which would hardly be the
the
sole agent effecting it.
if heat
were
case
Certain
stances
animals, at any
rate, can
digest subwhich
by no mere
process of cooking can
be reduced
to a solution.
Moreover, in fevers,
when
the
heat
of the
body is increased, the
of digestionare
not
improved, but rather
powers
likens
Helmont
impaired. With true insight,van
of digestion to that whereby wine
the process
is
made
from grapes or beer from barley. By means
of fermentations
the archei of foods are conquered
of man,
and
ment
nourishby the digestive archeus
is
Heat
transmuted
the
writes
digestion, but
there is a certain other vitail faculty which
doth
:
truly, and formally transchange nourishments
And
that I have
ments,"
of Ferdesigned by the name
but
there
are
wisely adding,
many
Ferments
in
Previous
Sir
us."
writers, as
Llichael Foster
indicates
in his lucid exposition
of van
Helmont's
physiologicaldoctrines, had
caught hold of the phenomena of the fermenting
"
is
not
"
"
or
"
by
Heat
way
doth
of
not
HEALING
THE
wine- vat,
ART
as
illustrative
of
of the
phenomena
the
still
mysterious
more
"
living body
attempt
Helmont
van
The
connected
of fermentation
nature
understood.
under
matters."
is still very
to
appear
substances
which
suitable
alcoholic
malt,
fermentation
well
as
be
are
little
highly
capable,
causing certain
take
to
place in
quite disproportionately
of the ferment.
of
and
grape-sugar
various
complicated
the
as
that
constitutingdigestion,are known
of such
substances.
by means
ferments
various
have, in many
cases,
under
isolated, and the precise conditions
they act and the changes they effect have
processes
achieved
discovered.
But
much
wiser
as
action
than
modern
science
the
concerns
was
Sir Michael
Foster
Lectures
Sixteenth, Seventeenth
"Camb., 1901), p. 135.
2
The
following very brief account
an
man
of
the
in
occurs
into
be
may
pepsin
The
the
stomach
pepsin
proteid
of
pancreatic
of the
the
juice
as
peptone,
juice,
other
whilst
secreted
The
been
which
been
of
their
especially
digestiveferments
The
first
general reader.
is
which
operation
ptyalin,
causes
hydrochloric
converts
called
into
be
History of Physiology
Eighteenth Centuries
and
gastric juice
This
of
the
to
comes
and
rennin.
cent,
per
acid,
The
saliva
malt-sugar.
and
interest
which
the
anembranes
0'2
of
ferments
to
really
not
It is
the
on
is
rationale
Helmont.
van
the
during
conditions, of
reactions
specific chemical
quantities of other substances
largein comparison with
The
the first to
Ferments
chemical
complex
selves,
them-
in
made
of
69
is
conversion
contains
secreted
acid.
the
proteids
into
rennin
causes
by
the
the
by
starch
ferments,
two
required and
In
of
mucous
contains
presence
a
very
milk
pancreas
about
of
this
soluble
to
clot.
and
dis-
JOANNES
70
to
his
to
that
BAPTISTA
credit
that
HELMONT
VAN
he
mentatio
clearly realised that feris a process
far more
complex and
than
subtle
reactions.
are
ordinary chemical
will act, according to him, only under
A ferment
peculiar to itself ; thus, the
special conditions
in the
ferment
stomach, for example, will act
acid solution, whilst the bile,
or
only in a sour
the other hand, is salt,or, as we
should
on
now
for
alkaline, which
alkahnity is necessary
say,
the operation of its own
ferment, but is inimical
of the
is in close agreement
teachings of modern
however,
with
the
never
functions
into
All this
in every
of the
pancreas.
to
van
Digestion, according
of
accomplished by means
first digestion takes place in
charged into
respectively
stomach.
particularwith the
physiology. Van Helmont,
of a ferment
suspected the presence
he was
saliva, and
unacquainted
the
in
of the
ferment
the
duodenum,
starch
convert
and
effect
is
The
six
processes.
the
stomach, where
contains
into
Helmont,
three
sugar,
ferments,
change
other
which
proteids
the
The
saponification of fats.
is
the
of
to
in
it
alkaline, owing
pancreatic juice
presence
sodium
are
carbonate, and its ferments
only effective in an
peptone,
medium.
Bile
liver, stored
when
duodenum,
in
alkaline
the
by
the
juice. Along
salts
with
is
alkaline.
gall-bladder
required, together
other
facilitate
which
also
the
This
and
the
it
saponification
secreted
discharged
with
constituents,
is
the
pancreatic
contains
of
into
certain
fats.
Dviring
malt-sugar undergoes
further
a
fermentation,
being changed into glucose, whilst
is converted
into
the
the
special proteids of the
peptone
The
blood.
tation
undergoes a final fermenundigested foodstuff
absorption
in
fseces
The
course,
from
by
in
the
the
the
the
van
intestine, the
large intestine,
of
agency
ferments
as
small
certain
producing
Helmont
ferments
where
it
is
converted
into
micro-organisms.
alcoholic
fermentation
effecting digestion.
are,
substances
of
HEALING
THE
the
food
which
and
71
is acted
the
which
digestion
ART
in
acts
is
upon
an
acid
completed,
passage
of
chyme)
into
the
into
arterial
the
soiu*
solution.
the
pylorus
(or,
cream
duodenum,
When
as
where
we
allows
now
this
the
say,
its
acidity is
neutralised
by the bile and a further digestionis
of the bihary ferment.
accomplished by means
The
third digestion is accomplished by means
of
ferment
a
supplied by the liver,and, beginning
in the
mesenteric
veins, is completed in that
of this digestion,the archeus
By means
organ.
of the food is finallysubdued, and
the alkaline
into
blood.
venous
chyle is converted
Aselli,
his discovery
we
already announced
note, had
may
of the lacteals,but van
Helmont
makes
of it ; and
his theory of digestion as
use
no
the
and
fifth stages is
concerns
third, fourth
largely hjrpothetical. It is interestingto note,
however, that he says that the faeces are formed
from
the refuse of the food incapable of absorption
veins by means
of a further
by the mesenteric
fermentation
in the large intestines.
of the fourth
and
fifth digestions,
By means
blood
of
Helmont, the venous
according to van
the liver is successivelypurified,being first converted
He
does
the
two
this
not
very
processes.
blood
and
then
vitalised.
view
appears
whilst
to
be
that
the
venous
purificationcommences
blood
is passing from
the liver to the heart, and
The
is completed in the latter organ.
agent is
the vital spiritwhich, always present in the left
72 JOANNES
BAPTISTA
the septum
own
nature.
the
blood
As
to
as
of the
His
from
and
into
to
breathing,he assumes
this purificatory
tion
fermenta-
to
last
and
contains
the
air taken
The
of
act
its
the nourishment
which
its
mentioned, he supposes
the right to the left
from
pass
not otherwise.
members
of them
into
blood.
sixth
various
blood
have
we
incentive
an
the
transmutes
ventricle,but
the lungs by the
act
percolatethrough
right ventricle,where, acting
into the
ferment, it
HELMONT
ventricle
as
VAN
blood.
He
in the
digestion occurs
of the body.
Each
organs
ferment
of
own
by means
proper to each is prepared
writes
At
Cook
its
which
Digestion,as
nourishment
own
there
do
for
attribute
and
"
sixfold
under
dispositions
those
tions
disposi-
the diseases
their
which
the
four
feigned
rather
be
things
owing imto
But
I call things transchanged,
Michael
digestion as
of
errors
unto
humom's, should
transchanged :
which
afterwards
dispositions,
blood, consequently succeed
of the solid parts."
Sir
divers
are
so
seKe
it
well
Foster
"a
remarkable
digestion
of
humane
do
into
in the
the
Arterial
true
ishment
nour-
describes
this
sixth
generalisation,by
nourishment,"
"" 67
HEALING
THE
which
Helmont
van
long
after
year
The
watery
terminology
"
calls the
"
latex."
Bloud, and
Sweat."
to
as
the
"
It is
the
made
Helmont
van
one
"
weU
as
common
views
own
in the
serum
only humour."
writes, have made
of the Whey
of the
name
it
His
indeed," he
have
anticipates
until many
of it under
mention
reached
not
were
him."
Schools
The
73
which
conclusions
ART
to Urine
concerning
this
of the
those
on
great advance
cluded
be inGalenists.
Latex, he points out, must
Excrements, but profitable
amongst, not
it has
undergone a
juices." It is only when
in the
specificfermentation
kidneys that latex
substance
mark
"
becomes
urine
washed
from
out
Altogether,
ranks
whilst
the
body
"
Helmont's
van
that
is latex
sweat
that
has
superfluous salt."
work
on
the
latex
digestion as a contribution
science
of the greatest value.
physiological
to
with
on
{b) Pathology
On
have
the
basis
sketched
of the
physiologicaldoctrines
above
van
theory concerning
He
clearly realised
of
symptoms
mastery,
that
a
was
was
erected
cure
his
of disease.
study merely of
not
adequate to
necessary
to
the
its
trace
to
their
it
and
cause
that
disease
and
the
Hehnont
we
"
The
Humour
first
74 JOANNES
BAPTISTA
function
or
of
humours
any
man,
in the
its roots
HELMONT
disproportion in the
theory be assigned as its
in
his opinion, cannot
can
Galenical
dead
cause.
nor
VAN
from
disease.
Disease
fore
there-
is,the
archeus.
"
which
arise
as
result
which, stirringup
of
some
morbid
idea
external
agent,
in the
archeus,
it to deviate
from
its normal
causes
activityand
behave
in
harmful
such
a
manner.
Amongst
external
are
agents, the operations of witchcraft
assigned a place of importance.
All
van
diseases, therefore, according to
their seat
He
in the archeus.
Helmont, have
writes
"
after
as
follows
Disease
that
therefore
is
hurtful
certain
Being, bred,
hath
strange power
violated the vital Beginning, and hath pierced the
faculty hereof, and by piercing hath stirred up
the Archeus
unto
Indignation, Fury, Fear, d^c.
To wit, the anguish, and
troubles
of which
turbation
perdo
Idea
by imagining, stir up an
co-like
due
unto
themselves, and
a
Image :
Indeed
that Image is readily stamped, expressed,
and
sealed
in the Archeus, and
being cloathed
doth
with him, a Disease
presently enter on the
stage, being indeed composed of an Archeal Body,
and an efficient Idea : For the Archeus
produceth
a
certain
ART
HEALING
THE
75
when
he
himseK, the which
hath
wards
once
admitted, he straightway also afteryields,flees,or is alienated, or dethroned,
defiled through the importunity thereof, and
or
to undergo a strange government,
is constrained
and
civil War
raised
a
domestically to sustain
such a strange Image, is
himself ; indeed
up on
of the
materially imprinted, and
arising out
Archeus
A true
Diseasie
:
Being I say, which is
dammage
caUed
Disease."
Van
Helmont
disease
it is
what
shaU
be
is necessary
will act
as
used
He
archeus.
"
unto
wTites
Disease
is that
cure
its symptoms
such
remedies
influence
or
upon
to
the
is
3. From
tinguishing
primitively overcome,
by exof the
of the
Idea, or a removal
matter
thereof.
2. Originally,
by allaying
And
pacifjdngof the disturbed Archeus.
a latter
thing ; to wit, if the occasional
matter
be
essential
and
and
taken
Bias
alterative
Idea
Disease,
or
Such
views
fantastic
to
which
away,
of
as
these
modern
made."
efficiently
thought,
but
the
somewhat
seem
may
motive
that
entertainment,
be
may
stirs up
they
mark
The
birth
or
T.
originalof
Withington
Diseasie
well
in
points
552,
p.
2
p.
"
]\Ir. E.
As
"
500.
Disease
is
an
unknown
Guest,"
"
77
(5), Oriatrike,
76 JOANNES
out,
"
BAPTISTA
there
much
is
VAN
HELMONT
valuable
"
truth
in
van
Helmont's
pathologicaldoctrines when
they are
divested
of the fantastic
in which
language
their author
and
mont's
Helvan
expressed them
;
detailed
application of these doctrines to
the various diseases which
he investigatedcontains
much
that is interestingand even
illuminating.
As we
have
specialtreatises on
seen, he wrote
Fevers, the Disease of the Stone, and the Plague ;
and there are interestingchapters in his collected
works
deaUng with other diseases,such as dropsy,
"
"
gout, and
what
Concerning
"
the
the
Galenists
dropsy, he
"
called
writes
catarrh."
follows
as
The
this
Abdomen
time
of
or
he
the
so
Latex
nether
all thorow
them
of
compass
straitens
Abdomen,
the
into
; in
the
mean
even
until
Death."
the
of
the
Edward
(London,
*
Theodore
Earliest
"
The
Times
Withington : Medical
Pojfnilar History of
1904), p. 307.
Dropsie is Unknown,"
the
History from
Healing Art
HEALING
THE
ART
77
the
"
unknown
hitherto
His
views
Schools."
in the
concerning
Helmont
Van
mucus
theory. The
according to him,
its object being
of
"
catarrhs
"
interest.
complaints are of much
regarded various forms of catarrh
of phlegm distilhngto the head and
condensed.
the
and
The
as
allied
Galenists
the
there
result
ing
becom-
ridicules
nose
is
this
and
throat,
local archeus,
produced by a
the
protecting of the tissues
Excessive
from
irritation.
irritation,however,
this archeus
behave
to
causes
recklessly. He
Helmont's
becomes, in van
quaint language, an
or
wandering keeper," and
erring watchman
or
phlegm in too great abundance
produces mucus
and
of bad
quality,the voiding of which entails
coughing, spitting and other impleasant effects.
"
Van
Helmont's
it that
of fevers
treatment
has
much
The
is commendable.
currently held
undergoes
opinion that, in fevers, the blood
cates,
putrefaction he rightly rejects. Heat, he indiof a fever, but one
is not the cause
of its
symptoms, due to the disordered activity of the
in
"
Short
reckoned
and
"
pp.
A
"
"
The
pp.
Life,"
that
386
of
and
"
The
Disease
that
was
antiently
747
et seq.,
e/ seq.
254
et seq.,
and
pp.
429
et seq.
JOANNES
78
BAPTISTA
VAN
HELMONT
archeus
The
"
order
that
Fever
his
the
the
of
the
is not
stone
"
The
attributed
as
the
on
the
parsistsof
teeth
Paracelsian
He
dissolved
chemical
in
causation
the
"
Treatise
the
of
which
remnant
and
Helmont
This
of wine
tartar
at
which
drink
still
theory
and
as
true
is not
could
true
substance
be
of
He
sought by
understanding
Fevers,"
is crude
potassium hydrogen
974.
The
hotly contested.
bladder.
to arrive
means
doctrine.
by boiling water,
formed
stones
is
of disease, van
pointed out that
cause
the
thereto
drink
"
"
forms
of tartar
and
term
which
in food
of allied substances
or
many
disease
"
generally,and
and
off
mation
interesting. Paracelsus, observing the forof a hard
in wine-barrels
deposit from
assumed
the presence
wine
^tartar,or argol
of this
of
shake
"
the
on
better
the
may
enemy."
work
His
less
he
tartrate.
973
THE
of
the
and
nature
was
which
in
direction
inventor
The
caused
of
as
stones
and
research
was
the
mention,
an
the
in
the
archeus.
Helmont,
stirs up
But
it may,
of foreboding and
product
alone,
infection
of
should
w^e
was,
improved catheter.
Plague, according to van
by a poisonous gas, which
of terror
result
successful
more
He
proceed.
to
these
seventeenth
chemistry of the
not
for him
sufficientlyadvanced
he
certainly pointed the
success,
achieve
to
of
cause
79
the
although
century
ART
HEALING
for
an
he
is
idea
says,
the terror
the
imagination is of
exceeding potency, as is evident, to use
an
illustration
he employs on
numerous
occasions,
in the case
of a pregnant woman,
who, through
her imagination,imprints on her offspringa mark,
such as that of a cherry. His work
the Plague is
on
marred
by many
superstitiousnotions, such as the
belief that a useful
zenexton
or
prophylactic
be made
from
dried
can
toads, and
cannot,
perhaps, be regarded as so useful a contribution
science as his other medical
to medical
writings.
"
"
(c) Therapeutics
In
of
view
stomach
and
the
the
physiology
of
expect him
to have
van
not
however, was
others, he laid down
that
"
of moderation
Let
the
(although it
function
to
the
of
digestion in the
Helmont, we might naturally
been a keen dietetist. Such,
the
case.
Scoffing at all
rule of diet only, namely,
one
:
Supream
be
attached
importance
cruel
defence
of
thing
those
to
Long
that
Life
are
80 JOANNES
BAPTISTA
HELMONT
VAN
which
him
favour
If, however,
as
failed
most."
to
seems
the
be
case,
van
the
still were,
treatment
On
heir.
that
"
to
for
one
unless
two
most
favoured
means
flesh is
ill to which
every
he wrote
that he feared
occasion
almost
the
Lord
shall avert
the Life
it
.
of Mortals
will
of
dayly
be
shortned,
and
length
the Grave
in its green eare, through
to pass unto
the Offence of Cutting of a Vein, andPurgings,"
of the physicians
of his denunciations
and in one
that
of his day, he declared
a
bloody Moloch
sits
president in the Chairs of Medicine."
ment
His fear was
not an
exaggerated one ; his indictnot
of the Galenists
mijust. Blood-letting
and
excessive
purging, those fetishes of old-time
innumerable
have claimed
medical
practice,must
of whom,
perhaps, might have
victims, many
their illnesses by means
from
recovered
merely
the
of Nature's
recuperative powers unaided
; and
is under a deep debt of gratitude
science of medicine
at
"
"
"
"
"
CJ.
"
"'
'
Paradox,"
" 6, Oriatrike, p. 702.
A Preface," Oriatrike, p. 631.
A
Mad
Pleura,"
or
Raging
" 34, Oriatrike, p. 399.
Catarrhe
of
The
Rheume,"
or
a
" 35, ibid.,p. 439.
Toyes
A
Sixth
THE
ART
HEALING
81
Helmont
van
of these
use
for
valuable
wine, also, he
according to him,
functions
to
potent medicines
highly commended.
and
pacify and
and
are
appease
and, above
These,
such
to
agents as serve
the archeus, to regulateits
coming
all, to assist it in over-
He also
of disease.
the powers
of
diverse
medicines
other
employed
character,
many
including herbal preparations, concerning which
and
much
curious
interesting (if not always
is to
be
found
entirely reliable)information
But he cordially
detested
scattered in his works.
of the apothecaries of his day,
the concoctions
nauseating to the taste and composed, in many
of innumerable
ingredients,compounded
cases,
together in the hope that if one did not effect a
would
another
cure
and, like Paracelsus, he
;
the
apothecaries (altogether
roundly accused
their drugs.
justly)of adulterating
6
82 JOANNES
BAPTISTA
VAN
medicines, such
Some
HELMONT
Helmont
spices,van
tells us, act on
the archeus
of their
by means
odours
Certain
sweet
or
pleasant tastes.
drugs
remove
impurities; others, he writes, do move
the
much
Archeus, not
so
by cleansing and
by appeasing his
sequestring Impurities, as
Griefs,Disturbances, and a continual and successive
It is
substitutingof Nourishing Idea's."
especiallyinterestingto note that he suggests
as
"
the
of alkaline
use
those maladies
of
acid, such
of
case
such
as
Van
substances
he considers
as
fevers
in the
of
treatment
to be due
to
an
excess
mercurials.
Helmont
is
somewhat
reticent
his
in
'*
In
Words,
Herbs,
Stones, there
and
is great
Virtue,"
Oriatrike, p. 583.
'
many
boHc
commentators
have, in
regretted that modern
the
somewhat
far
instances, so
misinterpreted
hyperto assign properties to
as
language of the alchemists
It is to
be
preparation which
like van
practical men
this
show
was
it could
possibly
not
a
Helmont,
possess.
strong
not
were
and
Helmont'
Van
solution
really claimed
of
for
which
s
it
by
it is easy
to
Liquor Alkahest
potassium carbonate.
HEALING
THE
work
the
on
Disease
ART
of the
83
The
Stone.
account
For
"
sels Arts
God
to
For
Sweats.
nothing
intent
to that
Alchymical things is written
that they may
be promiscuously understood
by
not be understood
:
all,but onely, that they may
And
that thing,Chymistry hath alwayes observed
singular to it, before other Disciplines,by the
be spread
Command
of God ; least Roses should
before
Men, and Swine : For our
Writings are
in stead of Exhortations, that
one
may
every
shall be
as
Labours, as much
profitby his own
indulged him from above."
in
Another
remedy
he favoured
(d) The
In
majority of them
substance
"A
he called
"
he
Arcanum
of its colour.
Life
of
of old-time
Hehnont
medical
theory,
in contradistinction
denied
it to
be
to the
the
same
the
from
But
oxide
mercuric
common
the EUxir
was
Childish
Oriatrike, p. 623.
the
Vindication
of
the
Humorists,"
" 5,
VAN
BAPTISTA
84 JOANNES
HELMONT
of
drug for the curing of disease, but a means
preserving life and its faculties unimpaired by
of age.
ravages
Van
Helmont
says
the
that
Elixir
this
can
be
of
by extracting the essential essence
the wood
of the imperishable cedar of Lebanon
of Paracelsus.
of the Liquor Alkahest
by means
is
Another
preservative of life that he mentions
the distilled liquor of sulphur, i.e. a solution of
sulphurous acid. He says that, in the year 1600,
then fifty-eight
a man,
years old (concerningwhom
and
the name
some
particularsare mentioned),
of life." He
defence
some
begged of him
scribed
preof two drops of this liquor,and
a daily dose
obtained
"
records that
as
result of its
use
the
man
was
alive
and
in
To
and
disease
cure
life :
to
preserve
medicine
;
such
are
but
the philosopher
great objects of
is continually haunted
by the question,
is this mysterious something which
What
we
it to light.
Helmont
Van
call Life ?
compares
is a formall
he says,
The life of man,"
light,"
pointing out, however, that this is an analogy
only, and not altogether satisfactory. Of life
the
"
"
itself he writes
"
Although
as
follows
God
had
of life in
essence
give
never
his
own
she
wen
"
The
Tree
"
The
Bias
any
one
honour
the
composed
Seeing life
incomprehensible God himseK."
Creature
any
to
HEALING
THE
ART
85
possible to
Perhaps this is the only answer
and
is life ?
What
the great question
haps
perwhich
this is the answer
biologicalscience
somewhat
seem
although its present mien may
materialistic
ultimately achieve.
may
"
"
"
"
that
We
suppose
rarely if ever
the works
of
van
Helmont
are
perhaps by
nowadays, save
the history of science their
have made
those who
be confessed
Indeed, it must
especial concern.
tedious
of his chapters are
that many
reading,
dealing as they do with forgotten controversies
does the
lost their significance. Nor
that have
of FranciscusMercurius's
editing(orrather
manner
The
lack of editing)add to their attractiveness.
latter seems,
indeed, to have flung together the
various
chapters, both of previously published
and
books
any
those
regard
as
to
read
which
were
to
order
the
in which
of
new,
noble
character
"
with
with
no
little if
tion
indica-
written.
they were
works, however, wiU
Apart from their
revelation
they provide
remarkable
for
ness
lofti-
of a
sincerity of purpose
man
by the desire to do
altogether animated
good to his fellow-men, a true and impassioned
lover of God
is of great and
permanent value.
Helmont's
and
van
anon
genius
Moreover, ever
but
be asthe reader
flashes out, and
cannot
tounded
less
at his originality. Never
man
was
to
afraid
less anxious
of unorthodoxy, never
show
between
his own
thought and
agreement
of
motive
"
and
"
BAPTISTA
VAN
contemporaries.
of
by the name
He
86 JOANNES
of his
that
his ideas
refer
to
his
"
dehghted
paradoxes,"
to call
and
to
of."
This,
gain acceptance
unheard
"
doctrines
HELMONT
as
to
not the best way
doubt, was
of
storm
learnt what
have
for them, and
a
we
be an
Yet it would
error
opposition he aroused.
that all his scientific contemporaries
to suppose
not to appreciate something of
dense
as
so
were
no
his
alone
of
in his encomium
enriched
Philalethes
Eirenseus
"
greatness.
Helmont.
and
alchemist
an
chemical
van
with
science
whose
"
was
not
Nicolas
physician
number
of
Compendious
published in London
Body of Chymistry was
in the
Helmont
died, wrote
shortly after van
should
We
thereto :
Preface
ungrateful!
prove
of a most
worthy
to our
Age, and the memory
should
if we
charitable Physician
and
passe
Helmont
the subtil Van
lately
by unmentioned
that of
with
deceased," and, coupling his name
as
men
the illustrious Glauber, spoke of the two
to follow in the
and Lights which
are
Beacons
we
^
Theory of Chymistry and the best practiceof it."
after
A lightfor the guidance of those that came
him : no
higher word of praise is possible,and
truer word
Helmont
no
of Joannes
Baptista van
valuable
observations, and
"
...
"
has
1
been
written.
Nicolas
(Nicasius
Lefevre
Body of Chymistry
(London, 1664), pp.
.
Printed
in
Great
Rendred
.
3 and
Britain
London
Febure) : A Compendious
into English, by P. D. C, Esq.
le
4.
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