AlVIBIX Vol.

28, Part I, March 1981

THE PARACELSIANS IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY FRANCE:

A RENAISSANCE TRADITION IN THE AGE OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT

By ALLEN G. DEBUS*

IN the past two decades there has been an ever increasing interest in the role played by the
followers of Paracelsus during the Scientific Revolution. Their chemical philosophy
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com bined alchemical, chemical and medical concepts in a universal scheme of nature that
seemed to many to be a viable "new science" or "new philosophy". These Paracelsians
carried on a widely trumpeted and spirited debate with Aristotelians, Galenists, and
mechanists alike until well into the third quarter of the seventeenth century. But what
happened after that time? Since they were seldom referred to in eighteenth-century
scientific journals it is sometimes suggested that they faded away with the triumph of the
mechanical philosophy. In this paper we hope to show that this was not the case.
For the most part historical research on eighteenth-century chemistry has focused on
Lavoisier and the background to the chemical revolution. Such an approach may be
warranted if we confine ourselves to the origins of modern chemical theory and to the views
of those authors w'ho were associated with the established scientific academies. However,
once we venture beyond their works, we find other chemical texts that confirm the existence
of a persistent interest in alchemy, natural magic and Paracelsian medical chemistry.
Books on these subjects were published throughout the century. Indeed, if we examine the
two major bibliographies of alchemical and early chemical texts [John Ferguson, Biblio-
theca Chemica (2 vols., Glasgow: Maclehose and Sons, 1906); Denis 1. Duveen, Bibliotheca
Alchemica et Chemica (London: Dawsons, 1949)J we find well over five hundred eighteenth-
century titles of this type in the one, and three hundred in the other. Many of these were
new editions of texts dating from earlier centuries and we are indebted to eighteenth-
century editors and their publishers for some of the most important collected editions of the
alchemical classics. But there were also an impressive number of new works written and
these testify to the industry of authors who sought to identify themselves with the chemical
philosophy of the Renaissance.
The overwhelming majority of these eighteenth-century alchemical texts derive from
Central Europe (approximately 81 percent of the Ferguson titles and 57 percent of the
Duveen titles are in German), but a preliminary study of the Paracelsian and mystical
chemical works of this period is best directed at the French texts both because of the
emphasis that has always been placed upon the French Enlightenment and also because of
a new interest among scholars in a connection between the growth of occultism and the end
of the "Age of Reason".1

* Morris Fishbein Professor of the History of Science and Medicine, The University of Chicago,
Chicago, Illinois 60637. This paper is dedicated to Professor 1. B. Cohen of Harvard University and
it was written in 1977 and 1978 for the Festschrift which is being assembled and edited by Professor
Everett Mendelsohn. Due to unavoidable delays in the publication of this volume the author has
decided to publish the paper first in Ambix.
The research for this paper was supported in part by NIH Grant LM 03014 from the National
Library of Medicine. The author is grateful also for the help received from John Neu in the
Depa:rtment of Rare Books at the Memorial Library of the University of Wisconsin (Madison)during
a visit in the final stages of research.
 THE PARACELSIANS IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY FRANCE 37

Because of the number of works available the present paper cannot claim to be an
exhaustive study of the eighteenth-century French Paracelsian, iatrochemical and alchemi-
cal texts. However, an attempt has been made to cover the century chronologically
and to indicate with selected texts something of the breadth of interests expressed by a
group of chemical authors whose works have not yet been integrated into the history of
science or the history of medicine. It will be seen that this important Renaissance
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interpretation of nature survived throughout the century down to the Romantic period.

A PARACELSIAN VIEW OF THE BATTLE BETWEEN THE ANCIENTS AND THE MODERNS
Nowhere had the followers of Paracelsus caused more debate than in France.2 As
early as 1566 the Medical Faculty in Paris had condemned the internal use of antimony,
but this did not stop the preparation of numerous Paracelsian translations and syntheses.
The earliest were prepared by Pierre Hassard who translated the Grossen W undartzney
(1567) and Jacques Gohory who compiled a Compendium of Paracelsian philosophy and
medicine (1567), but these were only a taste of what was to come. A strong critique of the
views of Paracelsus on chemical remedies and the origin of metals (1575) offered Joseph
Duchesne the opportunity to prepare a Responsio (1575) which proved to be the first of
many works by him written in defence of Hermetic and Paracelsian medicine. Roch Ie
Baillif's Paracelsian Le demosterion (1578) resulted in a trial in which the author sought to
defend his unorthodox medical views. This was to no avail since he was ordered to leave
the capital and return to his native Brittany (1579).
The outcome of the trial of Ie Baillif was surely a Galenist victory, but it did nothing to
halt the growing interest in the medical views of the Paracelsian chemists. Numerous new
works were made available by French publishers in the following decades, and when
Joseph Duchesne penned a lengthy defence of Hermetic medicine in 1603 he caused a
confrontation with the Parisian medical establishment that soon spread beyond the
confines of France. His book was immediately condemned by Jean Riolan and other
Galenists. Duchesne and his colleague, Theodore Turquet de Mayerne, then replied in the
opening salvos of a battle of polemical works that was to last for decades. So fundamental
did this dispute seem to be that summaries and histories appeared early for the benefit of
the European physicians. A number of the works were translated into German, French
and English.
Within France there were far reaching effects. One of these involved a growing tension
between the medical schools of Montpellier and Paris. Most of the chemical physicians
with formal medical training came from Montpellier while the Galenist stronghold was
surely Paris. Again, this debate led to a conflict between the followers of the Hermetic
philosophy and the early French mechanists. This is best seen in the official condemnation
of fourteen alchemical theses by the doctors of the Sorbonne in 1624,3 and in the relentless
attack on the alchemical cosmology of Robert Fludd by Marin Mersenne and Pierre
Gassendi.4 Nor was this debate devoid of political overtones. The chemist, Theophraste
Renaudot, a graduate of Montpellier, was supported in his medical projects by Cardinal
Richelieu who saw in them an opportunity to diminish the power of the Galenic Parisian
faculty of medicine (c. 1638-1642).5
These debates testify to the intense interest in alchemy and the chemical philosophy to
be found in France in the first half of the seventeenth century. Nor did this lessen in the
last half of the century, a period which we are accustomed to think of as dominated by
 ALLEN G. DEBUS

Cartesian mechanism. In addition to many new works on chemistry and chemical medi-
cine published by French authors, there were translations of the latest texts by Jean
Baptiste van Helmont (1670) and Johann Rudolph Glauber (1659, 1674).6 Even Descartes
had early been attracted to the Rosicrucians and some of his late seventeenth-century
adherents had found it easy to interpret his work in mystical and chemical contexts rather
than in mechanical terms.7 It seems that the establishment of the Academie des Sciences
and the ever increasing interest in the works of Descartes did little to lessen the publication
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of more traditional works on chemistry and chemical medicine.

With this background we need not be too surprised to learn that the familiar late
seventeenth-century "battle of the ancients and the moderns" is much too complex to
interpret simply as a struggle between Aristotelians and mechanists. In England the
debate between John Webster and Seth Ward is understood best as a confrontation of the
chemical and the mechanical philosophies,s This interpretation of the "battle" was also
expressed in France, Evidence for this may be found in an anonymous text of r697, Le
Parnasse assiege ou La guerre declaree entre les Philosophes Anciens 0- Modernes. The
author's intent is clearly expressed in the preface:

Dans l'idee que l'on s'est propose de faire assieger Ie Parnasse par les Philosophes,
on pretend demontrer la realite de la Science d'Hermes, & la verite de la
Medecine de Paracelce.9

The plot is simple, Apollo, god of the sun and of the healing arts, has died on Mount
Parnassus. This event seems to each philosopher to be an opportunity to assert his
primacy over all others.10 The mountain need only be climbed and the throne seized. But
lack of success on the part of anyone philosopher (or sect) to dominate the others leads to
the abandonment of this civil war and the philosophers join together to assult the mountain
in unison. There follows a list of the various philosophers and their place in this unusual
army, At one side are the academicians with units commanded by Plato, Epicurus and
the various Ionic philosophers.ll Closer to the mountain are to be found the followers of
Gassendi and Descartes who discover roads that seem to lead to the top.12 Even Confucius
and other Chinese philosophers are present and demand a proper place for the attack,13
Dissension arises within the ranks when Aristotle is appointed the Prince of Philosophers.
Diogenes and Descartes object loudly, but this does not delay the continuing preparations
for the assault.14 Galileo is placed in charge of the cavalry, Cardan and Porta are appointed
to lead the artillery while the infantry is to be commanded by Parmenides, Heraclitus,
Democritus and others.15 Descartes commands the dragoons and his lieutenants include
Mersenne, Regius, Ie Grand, Rohault, Boyle, De la Boe (Sylvius) and other friends. Sur-
prisingly we find that the chemical physicians Daniel Sennert and Jean Baptiste van
Helmont have been placed in charge of the baggage.16
But now four spies [the alchemists Jean Chortolasse (Johann Grasshof), Arnald of
Villanova, Hortulanus and Basil Valentine] inform the assembled army that the mountain
is nearly inaccessible and open only to philosophers of the school of Hermes. The officers
of Hermes carry a standard marked "FRC" (Fraternity of the Rosy Cross). After a
lengthy discussion the spies disappear.17
In a new strategem various groups unsuccessfully try to penetrate the mists leading to
the summit. Among a group of vivandiers we have a glimpse of "Harvee porta des oeufs"lS
 THE PARACELSIANS IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY FRANCE 39

while a group of chemists (including Libavius and Glauber) are forced to return to camp
after losing their way.19
Another spy (Geber) is caught. He informs the leaders that there are many defenders
at the top, philosophers who are guided by reason and truth. These are men who have
been taught by Hermes, the father of all knowledge.20 This statement enrages Galen,21
but he is stilled by the announcement that a prisoner of great consequence has just been
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captured. This is no less than Paracelsus who had injured the members of his escort and
was using such strong language that some called for his immediate death. Aristotle then
called for his interrogation thus permitting Paracelsus to defend himself.22
It was from Paracelsus that the leaders of the attacking army were to learn the names
of the principal defenders of the summit. In the first rank were to be found Moses,
Solomon, Roger Bacon, Nicholas Flamel, Hippocrates, Basil Valentine, Ramon Lull,
Arnald of Villanova and others while behind them stood such worthy figures as Joseph
Duchesne, Gerhard Dorn, Roch Ie Baillif, Agrippa von Nettesheym, Oswald Crollius,
Robert Fludd, Heinrich Khunrath and Michael Maier.23
Unexpectedly a copy of Paracelsus' own Archidoxes magica is found and condemned to
the fire. Paracelsus is to be given a reprieve from his own fate only if he agrees to show
the philosopher-warriors the road by which they might avoid the mists and clouds that
shield the summit from those below. He agrees to this and begins to lead Andreas
Laurentius (du Laurens) up the slope by hand. But the latter is not worthy of his charge
and he falls to the ground in the darkness which symbolizes his own ignorance. Paracelsus,
a true champion of truth, continues on to join his comrades at the top leaving behind the
bickering philosophers who represent every modern and ancient philosophical sect except
the true one.24

PARACELSIAN MEDICINE IN A NEW CENTURY

The fantasy outlined in Le Parnasse may serve as a point of entry to the eighteenth-
century literature. Surely the author of Le Parnasse could still view Paracelsus and the
alchemists as the primary guides to scientific and medical advance. He was not alone in
his conviction for we find that the French publishers of the eighteenth century offered their
public numerous chemical texts that reflected the entire spectrum of views characterized
by the Renaissance chemical philosophy.
Among the older texts to be reprinted early in the century were Jean Colleson's L'Idee
Par/aite de la Philo sophie Hermetique (first edition 1630; reprinted 1719) and Joachim
Polemann's Novum lumen Medicum de Mysterio Sulphuris Philosophorum (first edition
1647; first edition in French, 1721). The first discussed the philosopher's stone and the
principles of nature while the second expounded van Helmont's views on the sulphur of the
philosophers.
French authors also produced new works in the same vein. Thus Jean Le Pelletier
revealed the secret of L' Alkaest ou le dissolvant universel de V an-H elmont (1704) while
Francois Pousse offered an Examen des principes des Alchymistes sur la Pierre Philosophale
(1711). Alexandre Le Crom di~cussed the salt of the philosophers which he identified as
the true quintessence in his alchemical text, Plusieurs Experiences utiles et curieuses.
Concernant la Medecine, la Metallique, l'Oeconomique 0- autres Curiosites ... (1718). An
anonymous author writing from London complained of Ben Johnson's The Alchemist
 ALLEN G. DEBUS

which made Ramon Lull and Basil Valentine appear to be ridiculous. 25 He argued that
the search for a non corrosive dissolvant for gold and silver was as essential for the
advance of medicine as was the search for a correct method for the determination of
longitudes among mathematicians. 26
Works which bridged the gap between the world of the theoretical alchemist and the
practical chemist include Charles Le Breton's Les Clefs de la Philosophie Spagyrique ...
(1722) and an anonymous Traite de Chymie, Philosophique et Hermetique (1725). Both
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emphasize the preparation of real chemicals having medical value. This was in the
tradition of the seventeenth-century chemical text books of Beguin, Lefevre, Davisson,
Glaser and Lemery. Indeed, Lefevre's popular Cours de Chymie (1660) was reprinted at
Paris as late as 1751 with much new material27 while Nicolas Lemery's Cours de Chymie
(1675) witnessed many greatly expanded eighteenth-century editions including sixteen
editions in French printed between 1701 and 1757.
This continued interest in chemical tradition is also evident at the university level.
The identification of the University of Montpellier with chemical medicine may be traced
back to the sixteenth century and throughout the seventeenth century French Paracelsists
and Helmontians were associated with this institution. The tradition may be followed
until well into the new century. Thus, when Paul Jacques Malouin (1701-77), physician
to the Queen and professor of chemistry a~ the Jardin du roi, was criticized for his inter-
pretation of the history of this science, he was defended by an anonymous author identified
only as a "physician of Montpellier" .28 Similar to Malouin's very practical book of
chemical preparations were the lectures given by A. Fizes at Montpellier.29
A key figure in the development of chemical medicine at Montpellier in the late seven-
teenth century had been Raymond Vieussens (1635-1715) who had been taught by the
Galenist, Lazarus Rivertius, but who had also assimilated the iatrochemical views of
Sylvius and Willis. Vieussens' Tractatus duo (1688) had presented a chemical interpreta-
tion of physiology based upon fermentation as a fundamental explanatory device.30 But
although Vieussens later moved away from chemical means of explanation toward a
mechanical interpretation of bodily processes, he continued to support others who favoured
chemical medicine.
Antoine Deidier (d. 1746), physician to the King and Royal Professor of Chemistry at
Montpellier, was one who received a complimentary letter from Vieussens.31 He expressed
his gratitude to him in his Chimie raissonee (1715). This is a collected volume of Deidier's
lectures on chemistry that had been given at Montpellier. The names of Paracelsus,
Glauber, and other seventeenth-century figures appear frequently, and, in addition to the
inevitable chemical preparations there is to be found an extensive discussion of the chemical
principles which Deidier contrasted with the Cartesian principles of matter.32 His dis-
cussion of the particulate nature of matter reflects the late seventeenth-century chemical
interest in the shape of atoms as a cause for their characteristic chemical action. Of
special interest is Deidier's reference to the aerial nitre which had been described first by
Paracelsus and then by late seventeenth-century authors such as Robert Boyle, Robert
Hooke and John Mayow. After noting the healing properties of aerial nitre, Deidier
referred to those who explained that the animal spirits were formed through the volatili-
zation of this substance by fermentation in the blood.33 A second work, his Instit~ttiones
Medicinae (1711) presented a chemical introduction to physiology. Here too, Deidier began
his account with a lengthy discussion of the chemical principles of matter.34
 THE PARACELSIANS IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY FRANCE

THE PARACELSIAN MEDICINE OF JOSEPH CHAMBON AND FRAN<.(OIS MARIE POMPEE COLONNE
While it has been customary for historians of chemistry and medicine to emphasize the
work of Stahl, Boerhaave and Geoffroy in the early eighteenth century, it is evident that
French chemists also had available to them a broad spectrum of books relating to alchemy
and to chemical medicine. Here it is of special importance to note that several authors
were primarily influenced by Paracelsus. It is in the medical publications of Joseph
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Chambon (I647-c. 1733) and Fran<;ois Colonne (c. 1649-17Z6) that we may best witness the
survival of Paracelsian medicine into the eighteenth century. For if Vieussens, Deidier,
Lemery and Malouin reflect the late seventeenth-century chemistry of Willis, Boyle and
Sylvius, Chambon and Colonne urged the adoption of an earlier form of iatrochemistry.
Even the life of Chambon is reminiscent of the wandering anti-establishment followers
of Paracelsus of earlier centuries.35 Born at Grignon in 1647, he studied medicine at Aix
where he received his doctorate. He practised at Marseilles until a quarrel forced him to
leave ~he city and then travelled to Italy, Germany and Poland where he became physician
to the king, Jan Sobieski. At the siege of Vienna (I683) Chambon left the royal service to
confer with Paracelsian and Helmontian physicians in the Low countries. From there he
travelled to Paris where he was well received by Fagan, the physician to Louis XIV, but not
by the Faculty of Medicine whose members objected both to his practice and to his choice
of medicines. Hoping to bypass the medical establishment, Chambon obtained an arret du
parlement which authorized him to practise with the grade of licencie. He proceeded to
build a successful practice until his involvement in politics which resulted in imprisonment
in the Bastille for two years. After his release he returned to Grignon for the remainder
of his long life.
Chambon's reputation ultimately rested on two publications, his Principes de physique
[I7I1 (nouvelle edition), reprinted 1714 and 1750J and his Traitt des metaux (I714, reprinted
1750), works that have been largely ignored by historians of medicine and science.
Chambon "\-vasdistressed by the fact that the level of medical science was so low compared
to that of the other sciences.36 The slow progress of medicine was all the more evident
in a period when astronomy and mathematics were rapidly changing. He understood that
this was partially due to the difficult nature of medicine, but even after making this allow-
ance, the fact remained that the basic principles of medicine had not yet been discovered.
Part of the blame was to be ascribed to the emphasis in medical schools on the study of
human anatomy through the dissection of cadavers. Chambon argued that we must
replace this with the study of the human body as a living whole.37
We know that the rules of mathematics are infallible: the rules of medicine should be as
well.38 But how should one proceed? The ancients said that one must travel in order to
learn and Chambon agreed that this was essential. He had had no desire to rest on book
learning alone so for" eight years I went to study medicine in foreign countries."39 The
result was his firm conviction that the advance of medicine was dependent upon its con-
nection with chemistry. Paracelsus was "Ie plus grand de tous les hommes" and it would
have been much better if people believed that he had spoken seriously.40
True religion, a knowledge of nature and the healing art are all interrelated. This
truth is unknown to the academic physicians who follow the books of Galen and Hippo-
crates and their commentators. Therefore:

il faut renoncer a Hypocrate & Galien, il faut renoncer aces Philosophes speculatifs,
 ALLEN G. DEBUS

qui n'ont acquis ce nom, que par des sophismes, des argumens, & dont les specula-
tions imaginaires nous ecartent du bon chemin, mais il ne faut jamais renoncer
a soi-meme.41
The true physician should know that it is not the books of the ancients that teach us, but
rather that:

La prudence & la simplicite sont les veritables guides, pour developer les mysteres
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de la nature; c'est par elles, que nous devons nous laisser conduire: ce ne sera meme
qu'avec ces secours, que nous parviendrons a la connoissance de la nature, & par la
nature, que nous deviendrons profes en Medecine.42

For Chambon there was a very special importance to be found in the study of chemistry.

J e me suis done attache a ces Sciences & principalement a la Chymie. Si l'Anatomie

nous apprend a connoUre les ressorts de la machine qui fait 1'objet de la Medecine,
la Chymie nous donne beaucoup de lumieres sur liqueurs qui nourissent ces ressorts.
D'ail1eurs, ce que ne fait point l' Anatomie, la Chymie nous administre des remedes,
qui sont sews capables de guerir une infinite de maladies.43

Even van Helmont would have applauded Chambon's insistence tha~ to properly "penetrer
dans les veritables connoissances de la nature, Ie Philosophe & Ie bon Medecin n'ont besoin
que du feu; ils naissent du feu, ils se perfectionnent avec Ie feu, & pratiquent Ie feu: In
igne, cum igne 0- per ignem" .44 With this conviction we need not be surprised to find that
Chambon explained physiological processes in chemical terms. Thus "la digestion, ou la
transmutation qui se fait dans 1'estomach, est Ie premier des ouvrages du petit monde."45
Chambon's emphasis on the need for personal experience conflicted somewhat with his
desire to understand the difficult works of the alchemical authorities whom he frequently
cited. Indeed, Chambon felt the need to present to the reader a set of "Regles naturelles"
that must be understood prior to delving further into the study of medicine. The chemical
orientation of these rules is evident from the outset.

La Nature fait tous ses ouvrages en dissolvant & en coagulant.

Lorsqu'elle dissout, elle reincrude, & lorsqu'elle coagulle, elle cuit & murit.
II y a un esperit ou un feu cache dans tous les corps de la nature.
Cet esprit ou ce feu est, pour ainsi dire, l'ame de chaque corps, qui est toujours
en mouvement.46

The spiritual cause of movement tends either to formation or destruction and it is this
which one calls fermentation, a process which leads to the separation of the pure from the
impure.47 The reader is reminded of van Helmont in Chambon's belief that each body
perfects its seed and that this is required for its own generation. This is as true for the
mineral world as it is for animals and vegetables.48
Above all Chambon insisted on the essential nature of the three Paracelsian principles,
salt, sulphur and mercury of which all bodies are composed.49 Each of the principles
operates differently in the matter in which it resides. The chemist is directed to the
properties of colour, odour, taste, liquidity, solidity and weight since these are signs by
which they may be distinguished. For the physician it is essential to know that since
there are only three principles there can only be three fundamental sicknesses: there is a
 THE PARACELSIANS IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY FRANCE 43

Clmaladie du sel, du souphre, & du mercure". How different this is from the teachings of
the schools, HQuel echec pour les Bibliotheques de Medecine ... "50
But beyond the principles, Chambon believed in a fundamental prima materia. With
van Helmont he was convinced that this was water. I believe:

avec quelques Philosophes, que l'eau est Ie principe de toutes choses, & que toutes
chases sont faites d'eau; que Ie soleil est la source & Ie center des eaux, & que tout
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Ie Monde est compose de cette meme matiere; Ie mouvement & Ie brillant qui paroH
dans la matiere dont Ie soleH est compose, ressemble si fort a un or qui se purifie,
qu'un Philosophe l'a regarde comme un or en coupelle, & les parties qui composent
Ie soleil, ou cette meme matiere dans son tout, comme une eire qui sert a former
tous les differens ouvrages de la Nature, qui ne different entre-aux qu' en ce que les
parties des uns sont en repos, & les autres en mouvement ... 51

There was an essential unity to be found in nature: "L'homme, Ie ciel & la etant une meme
chose, faut-il estre surpris, s'il y a de l'accord entre'eux: Coelum est moderator omnis sani-
tatis, 1norbi, veneni, boni G mali 1,f,squead mortem."52
The books of Chambon are lengthy, but they read well. His frequent digressions
often recount personal experiences. Thus the story of his meeting with a group of Spanish
monks leads to a discussion of the differences between true religion and superstition. 53
Again, his critique of Descartes sheds light on the way in which a Paracelsian viewed the
then dominant form of the mechanical philosophy. 54 And, again as a Paracelsian, Chambon
discussed and compared at length the growth of metals with the stony deposits in the body
resulting from "tartaric" diseases. 55 In the tradition of the alchemists he discoursed on
the similarity between the calcination of metals and their subsequent recovery through
reduction with the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. 56 But above all, Joseph
Chambon was presenting to a new century an approach to chemical medicine that differed
little from that proposed by the followers of van Helmont nearly a century earlier. The
fact that these works were to be reprinted as late as 1750 attests to the interest in this
approach to the subject in the midst of the Enlightenment.
The Paracelsian interests we find in the work of Chambon are even more explicit in the
work of Fran<;ois Marie Pompee Colonne (c. 1649-1726). We know little of the life of this
author beyond the fact that he died in the flames of his house and that a student (Gosmond)
prepared several of his manuscripts for the press and answered one of his master's critics,
the Reverend Father Castel.
Like Joseph Chambon, Colonne published very little until late in life. There is an
Introduction a la philosophie des anciens, par un amateur de la verite that appeared in 1698,
but then there was complete silence for a quarter century. His Les Secrets les plus caches
(1722, reprinted 1762), Les Principes de la nature (1725), Suite des Experiences utiles (1725),
a work on geomancy (1726) and possibly a few additional texts appearing under the name of
Le Crom were published shortly prior to his death. There appeared posthumously his
Principles de la nature ou de la generation (1732) and a multi-volume Histoire naturelle de
l'univers (1734).
While all of the above texts are of importance for a fuller understanding of French
chemistry in the early eighteenth century, the work of most concern for us is Colonne's
Abrege de la Doctrine de la Paracelse et de ses Archidoxes (1724). In this substantial volume
of five hundred pages he is unequivocal in his praise: "J e dirai done que parmi les Modernes,
 44 ALLEN G. DEBUS

Paracelse semble avoir surpasse tous ses Predecesseurs; & qu'avec raison i1s'est attribue Ie
titre, de Monarque des Arcanes."57 For Colonne this title is well deserved since Paracelsus
established his doctrine on "raisons phisique & palpables sans se servir de ces enigmes
inintelligibles qui font tourner la tete plutot que d'instruire .... "58 But Paracelsus was
also a true physician and he has presented to his readers the rules for the preparation of all
sorts of medicines, "lesquels remedes, ou dumoins une grande partie, sont egalement bons
soit pour la sante, soit pour la perfection des metaux ... ".59 The key to this great accom-
plishment was to be found in Paracelsus' Archidoxes60 which Colonne prepared for the
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reader through an abridgment that reflected his own interpretation.

Colonne began with his own introductory explanation of the principles of chemistry.
Chemistry is described as the art of resolving mixed substances and of separating the pure
from the impure.61 In his discussion of the principles, Colonne accepted the five most
commonly accepted in the late seventeenth century, the Paracelsian salt, sulphur and
mercury, plus phlegm (water) and caput mortuum (earth) derived from the four elements
of Aristotle. 62 These elements, he argued, are true and certain since they are based upon
laboratory experience.
We may not be too surprised to find that Colonne proceeded to discuss the traditional
four qualities; heat, dryness, cold and humidity. However, for him these differ from the
visible elements. Rather they are the small invisible parts of them. Thus river ,vater:

n'est pas proprement ce qu'on appele la qualite humide; mais il faut comprehende,
que ce qu'un appelle qualite c'est la vapeur la plus subtile, ou si vous voulez la plus
petite particule d'icelle, & dont un nombre innombrables de ces particules jointes
ensemble forment les gouttes de l'eau sensible ... 63

Similarly fiery flame is very different from the pure quality of heat. The latter consists of
most subtle and mobile ethereal particles. 64
It did not seem useless to Colonne to speculate on the shapes of the elementary particles.
In so doing one might compare the views of the Cartesians and the chemists.

Et on peut, si ron veut, imaginer les figures que l' on voudra dans ces particules qui
composent les qualites, & au lieu de trois sortes d' elemens que les Cartesiens suppo-
sent rune tres-subtile, l'autre tres grossier, & un autre moyen, ou peut mettre
quatre degrez differens etant au fond la meme chose; puisque les trois elemens des
Cartesiens & leurs particules ne sont pas absolument egalles, ni en substance, ni en
figure, ni en vitesse de mouvement.65

Having prepared the reader through this primer of chemical theory, Colonne then
proceeded to discuss the Archidoxes. He presented to the reader what might be termed a
"commentary-abridgment" of the Archidoxes and then added two additional works on
alchemy. For him, as for earlier alchemists, the true chemist should be able to apply his
knowledge no less to the imperfect metals than to the ills of man. The macrocosm-
microcosm universe assured the operator that a cure for the one would succeed also for the
other. One could be assured that the slow natural transmutational growth of the imperfect
metals leading to gold could be hastened. For this reason Colonne discussed at great
length the growth process of metals from the seed66 and he was clearly convinced of the
possibility of transmutation in the laboratory.
 THE PARACELSIANS IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY FRANCE 45

FRENCH ALCHEMY AT THE HEIGHT OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT

The middle decades of the eighteenth century were to witness a series of important
French publications on alchemy.67 Pierre Brodin de la Jutais argued that the traditional
texts actually described the fertilization of the soil rather than the transmutation of the
metals [L' Abondance, ou Veritable Pierre Philosophale (1752)].68 This agricultural inter-
pretation may be contrasted with a more customary proof of L' Existence de la Pierre
Published by Maney Publishing (c) Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry

Merveilleuse Des Philosophesby Etienne Cesar Rigaud (1765).69 These and other mono-
graphic texts are interesting, but even more important are the multi-volume studies that
appeared during these years.
The three volume Histoire de la Philosophie Hermetique by the Abbe Nicholas Lenglet
du Fresnoy (1674-1752/5) appeared first in 1742 and was then reprinted twice in 1744.70
Lenglet du Fresnoy thought it necessary to write such a history because it had not been
done earlier.71 However, this did not mean that he believed in the truth of the claims of
the alchemists.

II faut remarquer qu'il y a deux sortes de Chimie; l'une sage, raisonnable, necessaire
meme pour tirer des remedes utile de tous les etres de la nature : l'autre est cette
Chimie folIe & insensee, & cependant la plus ancienne des deux La premier a
conserve la nom de Chimie, & l'on a donne a la seconde celui d'Alchimie.72

Accordingly, Lenglet du Fresnoy devoted himself to the composition of a history ttde la

plus grande folie, & de la plus grande sagesse, dont les hommes soient capables". 73 The
first volume is a history of alchemy; the second contains a group of French translations;
and the work closes with a catalogue of book titles including a list of chemical papers to be
found in the M emoires of the French Academy and the Transactions of the Royal Society
of London.
Lenglet du Fresnoy's Histoire appeared at the same time as the most extensive collection
of alchemical texts ever printed in French, Jean Maugin de Richebourg's Bibliotheque des
Philosophes Chimiques (3 volumes, 1740; reprinted 1741; a fourth volume published in
1754). Here are to be found thirty-three French texts plus an abridged dictionary of
alchemical terms. The first two volumes had been edited in the seventeenth century
(1672, 1678) by William Salmon,74 but the fact that this enlarged edition appeared in the
mid-eighteenth century attests to the interest in this subject at that time. We are
assured here that this subject forms no part of the history of human error as Lenglet du
Fresnoy suggested. Rather, in a 145-page preface, Richebourg (or Salmon) explained that
his task was "etablir la verite de las Science, au de l'Art, qui enseigne a faire Transmutation,
& d'en faire voir la possibilite" .75 Indeed, his definition of chemistry was "qui enseigne
a faire la Transmutation." A history of the art was, in essence, a recital of past
transmutations.76
The mid-century French adept was soon able to supplement these works with the
publications of Antoine-Joseph Pernety (1716-1800/1), the royal librarian of Frederick II
at Berlin. His Les Fables egyptiennes et grecques devoilees (2 vols.; 1758; reprinted 1758;
1786; 1795) maintained an earlier tradition in its thesis that the whole of ancient mythology
was an alchemical allegory. But an additional work seemed necessary.

Man Traite des Fables Egyptiennes & Grecques developpe une partie de ces mysteres.
De l'obligation dans laquelle j'etois de parler Ie langage des Philosophes, il en est
 ALLEN G. DEBUS

resulte une obscurite qu'on ne peut dissiper que par une explication particuliere des
termes qu'ils employent, & des metaphores qui leur sont si familieres. La forme de
Dictionnaire m'a pam la meilleure, avec d'autant plus de raison qu'il y peut servir
de Table raisonnee, par renvois que j'ai eu soin d'inferer, quand il a ete question
d'eclairer des fables deja expliqees.77

For this reason Pernety prepared his Dictionnaire Mytho-Hermetique (I758; reprinted I787)
which explained the chemical significance of the allegorical terms used in the art in a
Published by Maney Publishing (c) Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry

volume nearly six hundred pages in length. Nor did he stop at the traditional termin-
ology. Since:

Beaucoup de gens regardent la Medecine Paracelsique comme une branche de la

Science Hermetique; & Paracelse son auteur ayant, comme les Disciples d'Hermes,
fait usage de termes barbares, ou pris des autres langues, j'ai ern rendre service au
Public d'en donner l'explication suivant Ie sens dans lequel ils ont ete entendus par
Martin Ruland, Johnson, Planiscampi, Becker, Blanchard & plusiers autres.78

The first edition (I758) of Pernety's extensive alchemical dictionary was published only
eight years prior to the first edition of Pierre Joseph Macquer's Dictionnaire de Chymie
(I766) which has been praised as "the first scientific work of its class". The second edition
(I787) appeared the same year as Lavoisier's fundamental revision of chemical
nomenclature.
The man of the Enlightenment may have been confused by the presentation of the
alchemical classics simultaneously with chemical papers that were to lead to the chemical
revolution, and he may have been made more uncertain of the goals of the chemists if he
read the article on "Chymie" in Diderot's Encyclopedie (I753). Although unsigned, this
lengthy paper was prepared by Gabriel Fran<;ois Venel (I723-I775) who became professor
of chemistry at Montpellier in I759. Venel deplored the fact that chemistry was so little
studied by scientists in his day. "Les Chimistes forment encore un peuple distinct,
tres-peu nombreu, ayant sa langue, ses lois, ses mysteres, & vivant presque isole au milieu
d'un grand peuple peu curieux de son commerce, n'attendant presque rien de son
industrie. "79
If there were alchemical charlatans and those who. busied themselves only with the
. preparation of chemical medicines, there were also great systematizers such as Johann
Joachim Becher and Georg Ernst Stahl. Indeed, Venel felt that the study of chemistry
was essential for all of the sciences. It was necessary that a:

... nouveau Paracelse vienne avancer courageusement, que toutes les erreurs qui ont
dejigure la Physique sont provenues de cette unique source; savoir que des honzmes
ignorant la Chimie, se sont donne les airs de philosopher & de rendre raison des choses
naturelles, que la Chimie, unique fondement de toute la Physique, etoit seule en droit
d'expliquer, &c. comme Jean Keill l'a dit en propres termes de la Geometrie, &
comme M. Desaguliers vient de Ie repeter dans la preface de son cours de
Physique experimentale; ... 80

Venel sought to rectify the neglect of the greatest chemists through the history of
chemistry that forms an important part of his article. Here he pointed to the achieve-
ments of van Helmont, Glauber, Becher and Stahl. The mechanists were clearly of less
interest to him. Rather, we note once again his fascination with Paracelsus.
 THE PARACELSIANS IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY FRANCE 47

Paracelse est un des plus singuliers personnages que nous presente l'histoire litter-
aire: visionnaire, superstitieux, credule, crapuleux, entete des chimeres de l' Astro-
logie, de la cabale, de la magie, de toutes les sciences occultes; mais hardi, presomp-
tueux, enthousiaste, fanatique, extraordinaire en tout, ayant su se donner, eminem-
ment Ie relief d'homme passionne pour l'etude de son art (il avoit voyage a ce
dessein, consultant les savans, les ignorans, les femmelettes, les barbiers, &c.)
& s'arrogeant Ie singulier titre de prince de la Medecine, & de Monarque des Arcanes,
&c. II a ete l'auteur de la plus grande revolution qui ait change la face de la
Published by Maney Publishing (c) Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry

Medecine ... & il a fait en Chimie la meme figure qu' Aristote a fait en Philosophie.81

And even though his writings are "absolument inintelligibles", ((quel que soit Ie me rite
reel de Paracelse, il est evident que c'est a lui qu'est due la propagation & la perpetuite
de la Chimie."82 Here Venel was referring once more to the chemical medicines.

JOYAND'S PARACELSIAN CRITIQUE OF MESMER

The closing decades of the century witnessed an increasing interest in the occult sciences.
Andre Charles Cailleau claimed that he wrote not for the "treasure seekers", but for those
who believed that God would aid them in their quest.83 Of special interest is his discussion
of the books (all French translations) that convinced him of the truth of alchemy.84 An
anonymous L'Art Hermetique ... discoursed on the wonders of magical mysteries and
alchemical wonders85 while Le Grand Livre de la Nature explained occult philosophy, the
Rosicrucians, the transmutation of the base metals and the communication of man with
God through angelic intermediaries. We are assured that:

Tout ce qu'on lit dans Paracelse, Van-Helmont, Raimond, Lulle, Glauber, Trevisan,
Sweden borg, Gc., n'est point un effet de leur erreur, ni de l'imposture: c'est done
dans ces ecrivains qu'il faut chercher les preceptes des sciences occultes.86

Also deriving from Renaissance tradition is Pierre Joseph Buc'hoz' book of secrets in
which he devoted much space to chemical information.87
However, there is no doubt that the three most famous figures associated with alchemy
and the occult sciences were the Comte de Saint Germain (d. 1784); Giuseppe Balsamo,
Compte de Cagliostro (1743-95); and Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815). Robert Darnton
notes that the interest in the pseudosciences:

carried Parisians into the territory of occultism, which has bordered on science
since the Middle Ages. Cagliostro was only the most famous of the many alchemists
[L.-C.] Mercier found in Paris. Street vendors hawked engravings of the Comte de
Saint Germain, "celebre alchimiste", and booksellers displayed alchemist works like
Discours philosophiques sur les trois principes animal, vegetal G mineral; ou la suite
de la clef qui ouvre les portes du sanctuaire philosophique by Claude Chevalier. 88

An eyewitness described the alchemical activities of Cagliostro in Poland in 1780. In a

day by day account we read of the Count's deceptions. On 12 June the author
exclaimed that "Ma patience est a bout; chaque jour de nouvelles betises & impostures."
Finally exposed, Cagliostro fled Warsaw the night of 27 June.89
The mysterious Comte de Saint Germain had no more devoted a disciple than the
occultist Alliette who signed his works Etteilla. He disputed a rum our of Saint Germain's
death and announced that the Count would be in Paris in July, 1785.90 Alliette was an
 ALLEN G. DEBUS

inexhaustible pamphleteer who wrote on tarot cards, divination, talismans, numerology,

freemasonry, medicine, astrology, and alchemy. Saint Germain had been an authority
on all of these, but Alliette stated that he too had devoted thirty-three years to their
study and he believed that he would not die without proving to all Europe that the uni-
versal medicine, the transmutation of copper into gold, and other alchemical \vonders were
true and possible to all adepts.91
The increased interest in the occult was accompanied by the growth of-or revived interest
Published by Maney Publishing (c) Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry

in-numerous secret societies, the most notable of which were the freemasons and the
Rosicrucians. Several religious and prophetical works ascribed to Paracelsus were pub-
lished in the final decades of the century,92 but his name appears more prominently-and
in a scientific context-in the controversy over mesmerism. Franz Anton Mesmer was
convinced that the key to the sciences was to be found in the existence of an ethereal fluid
that existed throughout the universe. This he thought could adequately explain the
phenomena of magnetism, light, heat, electricity and gravity. But he went far beyond
this in the application of his "magnetic" fluid to medicine. Here he argued that all sickness
was due to obstructions in the flow of the fluid within the human body. The body itself
acted like a magnet and it was the physician's task to reinforce a natural polarity so that
the flow of this fluid would be returned to normal. The proper flow resulted in the restora-
tion of health and harmony between man and nature. Mesmer was capable of producing
convulsive" crises" in his Parisian salons and these were convincing to many contemporary
observers.
Seeking scientific and medical approval for his discovery, Mesmer approached both the
Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society of Medicine. He gained a few prominent
adherents (above all, Charles Deslon), but the end result was disastrous. A royal com-
mission was appointed to investigate mesmerism. Including scientists as well kno\vn as
Franklin, Lavoisier, and Bailly, the members of the commission made a thorough study and
concluded that "Mesmer's fluid did not exist, the convulsions and other effects of mesmeriz-
ing could be attributed to the overheated imaginations of the mesmerists" (1784).93
This result led to a torrent of publications both defending and attacking Mesmer. Of
these we will turn only to the works of M. J oyand who signed his works as "Dr. en Medecine
de la Faculte de Besanc;on, Medecine de l'Hospital militaire de Brest". His major work is
the Precis du Siecle de Paracelse (Paris, 1787).94 This is the first volume (and the only one
published) of a two volume work that was planned to show the Paracelsian origin of
Mesmer's thought. Nearly seven hundred and fifty pages in length, the Precis represents
the most detailed study of its sort surviving from the eighteenth century.
Rather than analyse Joyand's major work, we will touch here only on his short Lettre
sur Ie siecle de Paracelse (Paris, 1786), a pamphlet in 'which he discussed the reasons why he
had prepared the larger study. In effect, this Lettre served as an advertisement for his
forthcoming Precis.
Joyand's account reflects mixed admiration and disappointment in Mesmer. He was
clearly impressed by Mesmer's description of the universal fluid and animal magnetism.
He was aware of the great discoveries of the past century in the physical sciences due to the
work of Descartes, Newton and Leibniz. The work of l\tIesmer seemed to him to be of the
same order of magnitude but the Viennese physician had not published a proper explanation
of his theory and he had in effect denied himself the honour he deserved.95
J oyand had been in Paris when Mesmer arrived from Vienna in 1778, but he had left for
 THE PARACELSIAN'S IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY FRANCE 49

Besan<;on in 1780 before this new system of medicine had become well known. Two years
later he learned of Deslon's expulsion from the Faculty of Medicine because of his conver-
sion to mesmerism and of Deslon's subsequent challenge to the medical establishment.96
It was at that time that Joyland sought to learn more of Mesmer's theories and system of
cure. As yet he had had no correspondence with Mesmer or with any of his disciples, but
he was already engaged in research on Paracelsus, and he soon noticed strong similarities
Published by Maney Publishing (c) Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry

between the two systems.

By 1784 Joyand had completed his own work on Paracelsus and he visited Paris where
he had a conversation with Mesmer. He clearly expected to be named a member of
Mesmer's Societe de l'Harmonie Universelle, but he was not accepted because he did not
offer to pay the required initiation fee of one hundred louis.97 Clearly distressed by this,
it seemed to him that "a pecuniary interest had been attached to a scientific discovery.
"J e me propose aussitot de publier Ie Siecle de Paracelse, et en montrant les decouvertes
qui appartiennent a Paracelse, d' obliger M. Mesmer a ne plus tenir secret ce que les progres
de la physique .... "98 But he hesitated since he realized that if he did publish his work he
might appear envious of Mesmer.
At this point Joyand contacted Deslon who encouraged him and invited him to observe
the effects of animal magnetism.99 Deslon promised that he would be immediately initiated
into the Societe but he soon saw that Deslon could add little by way of explanation:

je n'entendes que la theorie fait vague d'un jluide qui agit en se com1nuniquant d'un
animal a un autre, comme Ie dit M. Mesmer dans ses propositions; et cette idee est
la moindre de toutes celles de Paracelse.10o

The seance J oyland attended was occupied almost entirely by practical matters related
to various articles and conditions imposed on the membership by Deslon. None of the
secrets J oyand sought were divulged, and he departed wondering whether Deslon actually
knew anything more than the little Mesmer had published.lol
In June 1784, a friend urged Joyland to publish his work on Paracelsus and the following
month he lectured on the Precis at Besan<;on to the Doyen of the University and other
physicians of the city.102 Here he discussed the views of the ancient philosophers on the
~ystem of the universe and their doctrine of life. He then went on to the doctrines of the
alchemists and particularly the work of Paracelsus "ou, d'l'occasion de run dex deux agens
magnetiques designes par lui, j e dis: Si c'est-la la vertu opposee positive dont a voulu parler
M. Mesmer, il ne s' est pas trompe."103 He also presented a new theory of chronic illness and
of other maladies characterized by acute pain, shivering and fever as well as a mechanism
of contagion.
J oyand' s Lettre concluded with a summary of the two volumes of the forthcoming
Precis. The unpublished second volume is of special interest since it was to cover those
"monumens qui attestent que tous ces principes etoient connus des anciens. Ils ont et6 la
base de l'alchimie. Developpes principalement dans Paracelse; excepte la loi des revolu-
tions celestes, dont il s' est fort peu occupe. "104

CONCLUSION
Historians have ignored Joyand's critique of Mesmer while the names of Chambon,
Colonne, Pernety and Lenglet du Fresnoy seldom appear outside histories of the occult
sciences. Even the chemists associated with Montpellier have never been studied in detail.
 50 ALLEN G. DEBUS

Perhaps the only exception here is Venel and the reason for this is understandable: the
uParacelsian" orientation of his article on UChymie" seems quite out of place with the
rest of the E ncyclopedie.
But in fact, Venel was not alone. His hope for a "new Paracelsus" reflects the views of
many eighteenth-century chemists. To relegate this to upopular science" or to an under-
current of occultism is a gross oversimplification. In fact this was a vigorous continuation
of the Renaissance chemical philosophy. The fact that these authors and their works
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played such a small role in the establishment science of the period may be at least partially
explained by the effect of the organization of science in the seventeenth century. Surely
one result of the triumph of the mechanical philosophy had been to exclude the proponents
of rival sects from the new scientific academies.
But if contemporary academicians were to ignore them, should we also? I think not.
There is no doubt that alchemy and Paracelsian medicine continued to attract adherents
throughout the eighteenth century. The increased interest in a mystical explanation of
nature at the end of the century was based upon a long tradition and did not arise suddenly
as a phoenix from its ashes. These works are also of interest for our understanding of the
background to early nineteenth-century science. At that time there was a critical debate
between the proponents of the rather mystical N aturphilosophie and a science that was
becoming even more dominated by mathematics. This debate might be studied profitably
in terms of the similarities it shows with the seventeenth-century confrontation of chemists
and mechanists.
Perhaps we may look for a still greater significance. The persistent eighteen~h-century
inquiries into alchemy and Paracelsian chemical medicine may well lead us to a new model
for the development of the sciences. Rather than seeking a continued march of progress
to the present we might do better to unravel the continuing debate between the mathe-
matical, the observational and the experimental components on the one hand, and the
spiritual, the mystical and the religious on the other.

REFERENCES
I.A provocative discussion of the French scene is to be found in Robert Darnton, Mesmerism and the
End of the Enlightenment in France, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard U.P., 1968. For Central Europe
see the newly translated edition of Henri Brunschwig's Enlightenment and Romanticism in Eigh-
teenth Century Prussia, trans. Frank Jellinek, 1st ed. in French, 1947; Chicago and London:
University of Chicago Press, 1974, especially pp. 190-204; and Dietlinde Goltz, ItAlchemieund
AufkHirung: Ein Beitrag zur Naturwissenschaftsgeschichtsschreibung der AufkHirung", Medizin
historisches Journal, 7 (1972), 31-48. Also essential is August Viatte, Les Sources occultes du
Romanicisme. Illuminisme-theosophie 1770-1820, 2 vols., Paris: Champion, 1928.
2. On the early French Paracelsians see Allen G. Debus, The Chemical Philosophy: Paracelsian
Science and Medicine in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, 2 vols., New York: ScienceHistory
Publications, 1977,vol I, pp. 145-173.
3. Ibid., pp. 262-5·
4. Ibid., pp. 265-79.
5. Howard M. Solomon. Public Welfare, Science and Propaganda in Seventeenth Century France:
The Innovations of Theophraste Renaudot, Princeton: Princeston U.P., 1972, see especially pp.
162-200.
6. The French translation of van Helmont by Jean Le Conte (Les Oevvres de lean Baptiste Van
Belmont, traittant des Principes de Medecine et Physique, pour la guerison assuree des Maladies,
Lyon: Hvgvetan and Barbier, 1670)is extensive, but incomplete. Glauber's La Description des
 THE PARACELSIANS IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY FRANCE 51

Novveavx Fovrneavx Philosophives ov Art Disti!latoire was translated by Le Sieur dv Teil and
published at Paris (Thomas lolly) in 1659 along with the Oeuvre minerale, the De l'or Potable, La
M edecine universelle and La Consolation des N avigants. Separate French editions of the work on
furnaces appeared both in Paris and Brussels in 1674.
7. See Steven Blankaart, Cartesianische Academie, oder Grund-Iere der Arzney-Kunst, worinnen die
vollige Arzney-Iere auf den naturgemassen Grunden des welt-berumten Carteslii aufgefuret wird,
Leipzig: T. Fritsch, 1699, and Blankaart, Die neue heutiges Tages gebrauchliche Scheide-Kunst,
Published by Maney Publishing (c) Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry

oder Chimia nach den Grunden des furtreflichen Cartesii und des Alcali und Acidi engerichtet ... ,
Hannover: G. H. Grentz, I689. See also Kurt Sprengel Versuch einer pragmatischen Geschichte
der Arzneikunde, 5 vols., Halle, 1799-1803, vol. 4, pp. 321-469 (367-86 for a discussion of
Cartesian thought in seventeenth-century iatrochemistry).
8. The texts are presented with an introduction by Allen G. Debus in Science and Education in the
Seventeenth Century, The Webster- Ward Debate, London: Macdonald and New York: American
Elsevier, 1970.
9. anon., Le Parnasse assiege ou La guerre declaree entre les Philosophes Anciens &0 M odernes, Lyon:
Antoine Boudet, 1697, sig. AiiV•
10. Ibid., p. 1.
II. Ibid., p. 4.
12. Ibid., p. 6.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid., p. II.
15. Ibid., p. 12.
16. Ibid., p. 13.
17. Ibid., pp. 14-15.
18. Ibid., p. 100.
19. Ibid., p. 103.
20. Ibid., pp. 109-110.
21. Ibid., p. 115.
22. Ibid., p. 116.
23. Ibid., pp. 127-8.
24. Ibid., pp. 136-8.
25. anon., Lettre a un ami, touchant La Dissolution Radicale &0 Philosophicale de l'Or, &0 de l'Argent,
sans corrosifs. Avec des Remarques Sur l'opinion general, qu'il ne faut point chercher de Remede a la
Goutte, London: Pierre Dunoyer, 1719, pp. 3-4.
26. Ibid., sig. A2r.
27. Nicolas Le Fevre, Cours de Chymie, pour Servir d'Introduction a cette Science, edited and augmented
by Nicolas Lenglet-du Fresnoy, 5th ed., 5 vols., Paris: Jean Noel Leloup, 1751. The work of
Joseph Chambon (see below) is cited frequently in the new material added on minerals (vol. 3).
This edition comes to nearly 2,300 pages.
28. Paul Jacques Malouin, Dr. Regent de la Faculte de Medecine de Paris, Traite de Chimie, contenant
La Maniere de preparer les Remedes qui sont les plus en usage dans la Pratique de la Medecine,
Paris: Guillaume Cavelier, 1734. Malouin's account of the early history of chemistry is to be
found on pp. 1-g. The defence of his work will be found in the Lettres d'un Medecin de Mont-
pellier, a un Medecin de Paris Pour servir de reponse a la Critique du Traite de Chimie de M. Malouin,
second edition, Paris: Guillaume Cavelier, 1735.
29. A. Fizes, Leyons de Chymie de l'Universite de Montpellier, OU l'on explique les Preparations avec la
meilluwe Physique, &0 la usage de chaque Remede, fonde sur la meillure Pratique de Medecine, Paris:
Guillaume Cavelier, 1750.
30. On Vieussens and early 18th century iatrochemistry see Jose Maria L6pezPiiiero, "La Iatro-
quimica de la Segunda Mitad del Siglo XVII", in Pedro Lain Entralgo (Editor in Chief), Historia
Universal de la Medicina, Barcelona: Salvat Editores, 1973, vol. 4, pp. 279-96 (292-3).
31. Antoine Deidier, Conseiller Medecin du Roy & Professeur Royal de Chimie, Chimie raisonnee. Outon
tache de decouvrir la nature &0 la maniere d' agir des Remedes Chimiques les plus en usage en M edecine
&0 en Chirurgie. Conforment aux Lef;ons Latines de Chimie qui sont publiquement chaque annee dans
Ie Laboratoire Montpellier, Lyon: Marcellin Duplain, 1715, p. *xi'.
 52 ALLEN G. DEBUS

32. Ibid., pp. 9-11.

33. Ibid., pp. 51-2.
34. Discussed by Lester S. King in The Philosophy of Medicine: The Early Eighteenth Century, Cam-
bridge, Mass. and London: Harvard University Press, 1978, pp. 91-4.
35. On Chambon's life I have followed the account in the Nouvelle Biographie Generale. His earliest
work (which I have not seen) is Cl. Guiron and Joseph Chambon, E. sanitas a calidi, frigidi,
humidi 0>sicci moderatione, Paris, 1696.
36. Joseph Chambon, Principes de Physique, RapporUs a la M edecine Pratique, 0>autres Traitez sur
cet Art, nouvelle ed., Paris: dans la boutique de Claude Barbin, chez la Veuve jombert, 1711,
Published by Maney Publishing (c) Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry

from the Preface, pp. a vV-a vivo

37. Ibid., p. a vii".
38. Joseph Chambon, TraiU des Metaux, et des Mineraux, Et. des Remedes qu'on en peut tirer,' avec des
Dissertations sur le Sel 0> le Soulphre des Philosophes, 0> sur la Goute, la Gravelle, la petite Verole, la
Rougeole 0> autres Maladies: avec un grand nombre de Remedes choisis, Paris: Claude Jombert,
1714, pp. a iv V-a v v.

39. Chambon, Principes de Physique (1711), p. iv". e

40. Chambon, TraiU des Metaux (1714), p. 321.
41. Ibid., p. 459.
42. Ibid., pp. 459-60.
43. Chambon, Principes de Physique, p. Iii".
44. Joseph Chambon, Principes de Physique, RapporUs a la Medecine-Pratique, Nouvelle Edition,
Paris: Charles-Antoine Jombert, 1750, p. 478.
45. Chambon, Traite des Metaux (1714), p. 209.
46. Chambon, Principes de Physique (1711), p. 1.
47. Ibid., p. 2.
48. Ibid.
49. Ibid., pp. 4-6.
50. Chambon, TraiU des Metaux (1714), p. e iv".
51. Chambon, Principes de Physique (1711), p. 23.
52. Chambon, TraiU des Metaux (1714), p. 390.
53. Chambon, Principes de Physique (1711), p. 170.
54. Chambon, Principes de Physique (1750), pp. 492 fi.
55. Chambon, Traite des Metaux (1714), pp. 210 fI.
56. Ibid., pp. 367-70.
57. Fran<;oisMarie Pompee Colonne, Abrege de la Doctrine de la Paracelse, et de ses Archidoxes. Avec
une explication de la nature des principes de Chymie. Pour servir d' eclairessement aux Traitez de cet
Auteur 0> des autres Philosophes. Suivi d'un Traite Pratique de differentes manieres d'operer, soit
par la voye Seche, ou par la voye Humide, Paris: d'Houry fils, 1724, pp. iii "-iiii".
58. Ibid., p. iiii".
59. Ibid., p. iiii".
60. Ibid., p. v".
61. Ibid., p. i.
62. Ibid., p. ii.
63. Ibid., p. iv.
64. Ibid., p. V.
65. Ibid., pp. vii-viii.
66. Crosset de la Haumerie (F. M. P. Colonne), Les Secrets des plus caches de la Philosophie des anciens
decouverts et expliques, a la suite d'une Histoire des plus curieuses, Paris: d'Houry, 1722.
67. A recent study of interest is Wallace Kirsop, "Alchemists and Antiquaries in Enlightenment
France", Australian Journal of French Studies, 12 (1975), 168-91. Kirsop discusses the spirited
mid-century discussion of Nicholas Flamel and reviews the works (among others) of Pernety and
Lenglet du Fresnoy.
68. "J'y combat l'erreur de ceux qui cherchent la Pierre philosophale, en prouvant que la veritable ne
consiste que dans l'agriculture." Pierre Brodin de la Jutais, L'Abandance, au Veritable Pierre
Philosophale. Qui consiste seulement a la multiplication de toutes· sortes de grains, de fruits, de
 THE PARACELSIANS IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY FRANCE 53
jleurs, 0- generalement de tous les vegetatifs, Paris: Delaguette, 1752, p. iv. As a traditional
chemical philosopher Brodin pictured the earth as a vast alembic and gave directions for the
preparation of a menstruum useful for plant growth. He describes a trial of this fluid made at
Vincennes in 1736and assures the reader that the results were "magnificent" (p. 50).
69. Rigaud proceeds in scholastic fashion giving arguments against transmutation with their refuta-
tion. He also lists six reasons why transmutation is possible. His approach is very traditional.
Etienne Cesar Rigaud, L'Existence de la Pierre Merveilleuse des Philosophes, Prouvee par des faits
Published by Maney Publishing (c) Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry

incontestables. Dedit aux Adeptes par un Amateur de la Sagesse, "En France," 1765.
70. A survey of the secondary literature on Lenglet du Fresnoy is given by Kirsop, op. cit., p. 188, n. 97.
71. Abbe Nicolas Lenglet du Fresnoy, Histoire de la Philosophie Hermetique, 3 vols., Paris: Coustelier,
1742, vol. I, p. iii.
72. Ibid., vol. I, pp. xii-xiii.
73. Ibid., vol. I, p. iii.
74. Nothing is known of Richebourg and for the seventeenth-century edition see the account in John
Ferguson, Bibliotheca Chemica, 2 vols., London: Derek Verschoyle Academic and Bibliographical
Publications Ltd., 1954, vol. 2, pp. 272-3.
75. Jean Maugin de Richebourg, Bibliotheque des Philosophes Chimiques, Nouvelle ed., 4 vols., Paris:
Andre Cailleau, 1741, 1741, 1741, 1754, vol. I, p. i.
76. Ibid., vol. I, p. vii.
77. Antoine-Joseph Pernety, Dictionnaire Mytho-Hermetique, dans lequel on trouve les Allegories
Fabuleuses des Poetes, les Metaphores, les Enigmes et les Termes barbares des Philosophes Her-
metiques expliques, Paris: Bauche, 1758, p. iv.
78. Ibid.
79. G. F. Venel, HChymie" in M. Diderot and M. D'Alembert (eds.), En cyclopedie, ou Dictionnaire
Raisonne des Sciences, des Arts et des Metiers, vol. 3, Paris: Briasson, David, Le Breton and Durand,
1753, p. 408. Diderot's anti-mechanistic views have been noted by Charles Coulston Gillispie
in his "The Encyclopedie and the Jacobin Philosophy of Science", Critical Problems in the History
of Science, ed. Marshall Clagett, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1962, pp. 255-89 and
in his The Edge of Objectivity, Princeton: Princeton U.P., 1960, pp. 184-7.
80. Venel, HChymie", p. 410.
81. Ibid., p. 431.
82. Ibid.
83. Andre Charles Cailleau, Clef du Grand Oeuvre, Corinte and Paris: Cailleau, 1777, sig. A ii".
84. Ibid., pp. 25-6.
85. anon. L'Art Hermetique a decouvert ou nouvelle Lumiere magique ou sont contenus diverses Mysteres
de Egyptiens, des Hebreux 0- des Chaldeens, n.p., 1787. The chapters include topics such as HDu
feu secret de Philosophes", "De la Riviere des Perles", HFontem perpetua Nature", and a letter of
the Rosicrucians on the "Montagne invisible".
86. anon. Le Grand Livre de la Nature, ou L'Apocalypse Philosophiques et Hermetique, Au Midi:
l'imprimerie de la verite, 1790, pp. 12-13.
87. Pierre Joseph Buc'hoz, Recueil de Secrets surs et Experimentes, a l'usage des Artistes, 2nd ed.,
2 vols., Paris: Chez l'Auteur, 1783, 1785.
88. Robert Darnton, op. cit. (1), p. 33.
89. anon., Cagliostro Demasque a Varsovie. Ou Relation A uthentique de ses Operations alchimiques
0- magiques faites dans cette Capitale en 1780, n.p., 1786.
90. Etteila (or Alliette), Les-Sept Nuances de l'Oeuvre Philosophique-Hermetique, suivies d'un Traite
sur la Perfection des Metaux, Amsterdam (?), 1787, p. 16. A useful reprint of Saint Germain's
most important work is the La tres Sainte Trinosophie, introduction by Rene Alleau, Paris:
E.P. Denoel-Bibliotheca Hermetica, 1971. This includes a photographic reproduction of the
manuscript.
91. Etteila, op. cit., p. 36.
92. Here see Karl Sudhoff's Bibliographica Paracelsica: Besprechung der unter Hohenheims Namen
1527-1893 erscheinen Druckschriften, 1894; reprinted Graz: Akademische Druck-U. Verlag-
sanstalt, 1958. Cited is La Faussete Des Miracles Des Deux Testamens, Prouvee par Ie paraUele
avec Ie sembiables prodiges operes dans diverses sectes; Ouvrage .traduit du manuscrit Latin intitule:
 54 ALLEN G. DEBUS

Theophrastus redivivus, London, 1775. There are also a number of mid-century editions of the
Europaischer Staats- Wahrsager (from 1742) which seems to be connected with the A ssemblage de
quelques Prophetie[sJ, qui paroissent cadrer aux Circonstances presentes des temps, tirees de Drabicius,
M elanchthon 0- Theophraste Paracelse, traduit, en Francois sur la premiere traduction allemande
(Sudhoff, p. 652 states that he has not seen this translation of the 1741 tract, Sammlung einiger
Weissagungen ... ).
Darnton states that "Of the many systems for bringing the world into focus, mesmerism had
most in common with the vitalistic theories that had multiplied since the time of Paracelsus.
Indeed, Mesmer's opponents spotted his scientific ancestry almost immediately. They showed
Published by Maney Publishing (c) Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry

that, far from revealing any new discoveries or ideas, his system descended directly from those of
Paracelsus, J. B. van Helmont, Robert Fludd, and William Maxwell, who presented health as a
state of harmony between the individual microcosm and the celestial macrocosm, involving
fluids, human magnets, and occult influences of all sorts." (Darnton, op. cit. (I), p. 14).
93. Ibid., p. 64·
94. M. Joyand, Dr. en Medecine de la Faculte de Besan<;on, Medecin de l'Hopital militaire de Brest,
Precis du Siecle de Paracelse, Paris: de l'Imprimerie de Monsieur, 1787.
95. M. J oyand, Docteur en Medecine de la Faculte de Besan<;on, Medecin de l'Hopital militaire de
Brest, Lettre sur le siecle de Paracelse (dated 30 April 1786), Paris: de l'imprimerie de Monsieur,
1786, p. 3·
96. Ibid., pp. 3-4.
97· Ibid., p. 5·
98~ Ibid., pp. 5-6.
99. Ibid., pp. 7-8.
100. Ibid., p. 9.
101. Ibid., p. 10.
102. Ibid., pp. 11-13.
103. Ibid., p. 13.
104. Ibid., pp. 14-16.