Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.10418
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Apparatus for melting ores and for pressing juice from wood
Date
1689
Creator
Unknown, Engraver
Object type
Library reference
41066
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 285mm
width (print): 175mm
width (print): 175mm
Subject
Content object
Description
The upper picture on this plate is part of Johann Rudolf Glauber’s ‘Miraculum Mundi’, and shows the furnace arrangement for ‘the best and most profitable manner of melting the Ores of Gold, Silver, and Lead ... by the flame of wood only.’ The lower illustration, part of the later ‘Continuation of Miraculum Mundi’, depicts ‘the Press, by whose help the Juice is plentifully pressed out of Wood, without great labour, for the making of Salt-Petre’ (nitre).
Plate facing p.188 in the book The works of the highly experienced and famous chymist, John Rudolph Glauber, containing great variety of choice secrets in medicine and alchymy ... (English translation by Christopher Packe, London, 1689)
Glauber (ca.1604-1670), an alchemist, chemist and chemical engineer, made several improvements to chemical processes and equipment, including furnaces and devices used in distillation. He published over 40 books in his lifetime, the most significant of which were collated and translated into English by Christopher Packe (a follower of Robert Boyle) to form a posthumous ‘collected works’ edition.
Plate facing p.188 in the book The works of the highly experienced and famous chymist, John Rudolph Glauber, containing great variety of choice secrets in medicine and alchymy ... (English translation by Christopher Packe, London, 1689)
Glauber (ca.1604-1670), an alchemist, chemist and chemical engineer, made several improvements to chemical processes and equipment, including furnaces and devices used in distillation. He published over 40 books in his lifetime, the most significant of which were collated and translated into English by Christopher Packe (a follower of Robert Boyle) to form a posthumous ‘collected works’ edition.
Associated place