Nicolas Lemery - Cours de Chymie - 1744

Course of Chymistry containing the method of performing the operations that are in use in medicine, by an easy method. With reasoning on each operation, for the instruction of those who wish to apply themselves to this science - Brussels, Jean Leonard, 1744 - (20) 938 (58) pp - leather bound

Good. Corners, edges and spine restored. Paper remnants on the cover sheet, a small scribble on the guard and cover sheet. Interior hinges somewhat open - the book block fixed in the binding. Corner under the title page torn with loss of letters and part of the title vignette. Interior pages browned, here and there a spot. Some dog-ears, a small bump on the upper corner of about 30 pages. Inner margin in three places slightly open. Sixth engraving pasted onto a wrongly bound engraving

Contains a portrait and 7 engravings (6 full-page and a folding historical explanatory list of chemical and alchemical symbols "Explication des plus communs Caracteres Chymiques") - all illustrated

A groundbreaking handbook that explains practical chemistry and the preparation of medicines in a clear, scientific manner. The book offers step-by-step instructions for laboratory processes such as distilling and purifying, and discusses the properties and medical uses of minerals, metals, and plants. Lemery firmly distanced himself from clandestine alchemy by explaining chemical reactions purely logically based on the movement and shape of particles. In this way the work bridged a crucial gap between early natural science and the medical practice of the eighteenth century.

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