Volume 17. Philosophical Furnaces by Rudolph Glauber. In Philosophical Furnaces, Rudolph Glauber presents detailed plans for four furnaces, each designed for a different purpose. The primary process described is distillation. The text contains instructions for producing various medicines, and other products such as artificial gems, magnifying glasses, strong porcelain utensils, fertilizer, wine, vinegar, Potable Gold, and much more. Although a few key details may have been left out, they are said to be presented in Glauber's other works. This book covers an incredibly wide range of early chemical experiments. Included are 6 pages of excellent engravings restored from the original printed work produced by Christopher Packe in 1689.

This meticulously edited collection has been formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. The works of William Wynn Westcott will reveal you the secrets Theosophy and Hermetic writings. This collection is an excellent source of information for everyone interested in Hermeticism, Alchemy, Kabalah and western esotericism in general. Contents: Hermetic Arcanum The Divine Pymander The Hermetic Art Aesch Mezareph Somnium Scipionis The Chaldaean Oracles Euphrates Egyptian Magic Sepher Yetzirah Numbers The Magical Ritual of the Sanctum Regnum Suicide The Isiac Tablet of Cardinal Bembo

This study explores the survival of Roman Catholic doctrine and visual imagery in the alchemical treatises composed by members of the Lutheran and Anglican confessions during the Renaissance and Early Modern periods. It discusses the reasons for such unexpected confessional survivals in a time of extreme Protestant iconoclasm and religious reform. The book presents an analysis of the manner in which Catholic doctrines concerning the Virgin Mary, the Holy Trinity and the Eucharist were an essential factor in the development of alchemical theory and illustration from the medieval period to the seventeenth century. The role of the Joachimites, radical members of the Franciscan Order, in the history of alchemy is an important issue. The Apocalypse of St. John (the Book of Revelation) and other scriptural texts and specifically Roman Catholic Marian devotions are also considered regarding their influences on late medieval alchemy and on the sixteenth and seventeenth century alchemical literature composed by Protestants. Additional issues explored here include the role played by alchemy in strengthening the leaders of the European defence against the invading Ottoman Turks, as well as the importance of the figure of the Virgin Mary as the Apocalyptic Woman in the same cause. Special consideration is given to the role played by the apocalyptic Mary within alchemical texts and pictures as an emblem of the mercurial quintessence and also in her form as the Bride of the scriptural Wisdom books which also entered alchemical discourse. Additional issues discussed in this book include the little-regarded problem of “confessional” alchemy, namely, whether there were distinct “Protestant” and “Roman Catholic” types of alchemy. The treatises under consideration include the Buch der Heiligen Dreifaltigkeit (1419; 1433), the Rosarium Philosophorum (1550), Reusner’s Pandora (1582; 1588) and the Pandora of Faustius (1706), as well as the work of Michael Maier, Robert Fludd, Johann Daniel Mylius, Jacob Boehme and pseudo-Nicolas Flamel, among many others. Their works are contextualised within the religious reforms instigated by Martin Luther, as well as within the unorthodox radical theology devised by Paracelsus and his alchemical followers. The Marian theology of Paracelsus is also of particular interest here.