PACIFIC SOUTHWEST ASSOCIATION OF CHEMISTRY TEACHERS SOME COPIES OF JEAN BEGUIN'S TEXTBOOK OF CHEMISTRY MEL GORMAN University of San Francisco, San Francisco 17, California T H E life and work of Jean Beguin as a chemist and textbook writer have been presented in an article by T. S. Patterson (1). This publication is so nearly complete that any additional material on Beguin must be considered as an extension of the foundation laid by Patterson. An article by Clara De Milt in THIS JOURNAL is based in part on Patterson's work (3). Although biographical details are meager, a brief summary of Beguin's life (I) may be given by way of introduction. He was born about 1550in Lorraine. Of him, Duveen and Wilemart say, "Lorraine's greatest contribution to chemistry during the [seventeenth] century undoubtedly came from Jean Beguin" (3). After receiving his education he traveled through Germany, Hungary, and Italy (41, finally coming to Paris a few years after the turn of the seventeenth century. There he opened a school for the teaching of pharmacy, which was very successful, attracting large numbers of students from many parts of the Continent. To save time in dictating notes, he wrote a textbook in Latin, "Tyrocinium Chemicum," published privately in 1610. In 1615 his first French translation appeared, bearing the title, "Les Elemens de Chymie." Ferguson calls it the most popular text of its time (6) for it went through some fifty editions in Latin and French, many of them after Beguin's death about 1620. Although diering considerably in form, expression, and notes of revisers, most of the editions are substantially equivalent in content, some of them, indeed, being close reprints of previous issues. Some of the editions were pirated, and others appeared in collected works. The last editions appeared in 1669. The textual material of the book has been commented upon by Bolton and Ferguson, and described by Holmyard and Patterson. Boltou says that the book "is characterized by freedom from ambiguity and prolixity as well as from hermetic superstitions; it deals chiefly with the medical applications of chemistry" (6). Ferguson summarizes the contents very simply by saying that "The book is merely an outline of certain pharmaceutical preparations, but incidentally there is some general chemistry, . . ." (5). This unenthusiastic evaluation evoked from Holmyard the statement that "A careful study of the 'Elemens de Chimie' has led me to place a considerably higher value on the book than that assigned to it by Ferguson, and it is scarcely doubtful that the great Lemery (1645-1715) must have
VOLUME 35, No. 10, NOVEMBER, 1958
been very much indebted to it" (7). After a lengthy chapter-by-chapter description of the book, Patterson concludes that the book "must have done much in an unostentatious fashion to guide real chemistry along a sound experimental path" (8). Patterson mentions almost all of the various editions and gives a complete description of most of them.' Moreover, since some of them are rare, he devotes a considerable portion of his paper to the description of individual copies which he was able to locate. H o w ever, his bibliographical sources are confined only to European libraries. It is the purpose of this paper to call attention to some copies of "Tyrocinium Chemicum" and "Les Elemens de Chymie" to be found in American libraries. To this end, some examples of early, middle, and later editions will be discussed. COPIES IN AMERICAN LIBRARIES
Beguin's second edition is almost as important as the first edition of 1610, both because of historical interest and rarity. The first edition was published privately and anonymously for distribution among Beguin's own students. But a copy came into the hands of Anton Boetzer in Cologne and was pirated by him in a publication of 1611, with the same title as the original, and without mentioning Beguin's authorship. Vexed by this misappropriation of his work, and realizing that it was being recognized as his own, he decided upon a rc.\,i.~io~~ .ind puhlimr ion under hi= OWII name, ;i.; f~~llo~vs: Tvr~winium ('l~cmicutn 1 1 0 n i r n n 1 t .\uct& / Autore'/ Ioanne ~eguino,~ e & /s ~lekomo&ario / [ornament] / Parisiis, / Apud Matheum Le Maistre, iuxtra / S. Jo. Lateranensem / M. DC. XI1 / Cumpriuiligo R e g i ~ . Patterson ~ calls this 1612 version extremely rare, for the copy in the Bodleian Library a t Oxford was the only one he was able to locate (9). However, the Engineering Societies Library in Nev York has a copy of this 1612 edition which is in good condition. It is bound in vellum, with three thongs holding the gatherings together. On pages 27 and 28 A concise table of the "genealogy" of the various editions, indicating how they were derived from those which preceded them, is given in Pattenon's article, pp. 250-1. Also, following p. 296 there are twenty-seven photographs of the more important editions, containing title pages, text, and signatures. 9 The Chemical Beginner Revised and Enlarged by the Author, Almoner to the King. Paris, Msthieu Le Maistre, beside St. John Lateran's, 1612. With the privilege of the King.
there are a few notations by an adept. The bookplate reads, "Engineering Societies Library, N. Y., in memory of Horace Vaughan Winchell, President, 1919,American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers. His collection of books." Another 1612 edition, bound with three other books, is in the Pennsylvania Hospital Medical Library, Philadelphia. On the title page there is written, "No 155. Sum ex lib: Thos [?] Parnell [or Darnell] pret: prce emp Lon Aug 4.48." The title page also has the name of Lloyd Zachary in a different hand from the quotation above. There is suggestive circumstantial evidence to indicate that the hook once belonged to Lloyd T e v i ~(1701-1756) ,~ (lO),although his name is not inscribed in it. On the inside front cover is a pasted label, "No. 40 Belonging to the Medical Library of the Pennsylvania Hospital." Tevis died September 26, 1756, and his will directed that his forty-three volume library be added to the Pennsylvania Hospital Library (10). But even if the book did not belong to Tevis, a t least it is evident that the "No. 40" label in this copy of "Tyrocinium Chemicum" places it in the American colonies around the middle of the eighteenth century. As a sign pointing to the immense popularity which was to be enjoyed by the hook, it is interesting to note that Boetzer immediately pirated this 1612 edition also. A copy of this Boetzer edition is in the Yale library. The first French translation appeared in 1615, under the title of "Les Elemens de Chymie" (If), and other French editions followed. The Gleeson Library of the University of San Francisco has a copy of the 1647 e d i t i ~ n . ~This particular copy is not apt to appeal to the bibliophile, but it will excite the imagination of the chemist. Although the printing is perfectly legible, the general appearance of the book is not very attractive. It has been cut and rebound. The present end papers are probably nineteenth century machine made. The spine and backing are nineteenth century and are in fair condition. The grade of the paper used for the printing was the poorest available at the time.5 It was probably made near Maromme or to the southwest of Rouen. The sheets are octavo. The water marks are difficult to discern because worn molds were used, and the book has been cut twice, which has resulted in removal of parts of some of the marks. Two different water marks are found in the body of the text. Most sheets are marked with a crown which is similar to number 1064 in Heawood (1.9). Two sheets are marked with a six-petal flower with flourishes above and a stem with cross-bar below. The index is composed of sheets of similar grade to the rest of the book, and con-
' Tevis was horn in Boston. He was one of the founders of the College of Philadelphia, an organizer of the Pennsylvania Hospital, and a member of ita first medical staff. This copy was part of the library of Augustus J. Bowie, Jr., (1845-19171, internationally famous hydraulic mining engineer and Brat graduate of the University of San Francisco (1863). His collection was one of the outstanding scientific, technological, and literary collections in the West. See "The Libraries of California," Flom Apponyi, A. L. Bancroft and Company, San Francisco, 1878, p. 64. Other reported copies of this edition are located at Harvard, University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow (two copies), and Clifton College (Bristol, England). The author is deeply grateful to Dr. AUan H. Stevenson for the examination of the paper stock. He examined the book while a Fellow at the Newberry Library, Chicago.
'
taining as a water mark a hook of peculiar shape. The printer's measure is much wider in the index than in the text. There are two annotated sheets following the index. These have a hand-shaped water mark, and the paper is probably of seventeenth century manufacture. It is possible that these two sheets were end papers of the first biidiig. From the point of view of a laboratory manual, this little volume shows that it has been put to good use. The cheap paper shows many signs of wear resulting from much use. There are numerous stains from ferric and silver salts. Besides these accidental marks, there are many corrections and additions. Some of the latter are in chemical symbols. For instance, immediately preceding the first chapter there is a table listing the elements and their corresponding planets ("SaturnPlomb," e t ~ . ) . Opposite ~ each element its symbol has been entered in black ink. Following the index of subjects there is a handwritten index of the marginal annotations which appear throughout the book. Among the later editions, two in 1669 may be mentioned. One of these, "Tyrocinium," was published by Baleonius in Venice. Patterson (1) and Ferguson (6) were not aware of this edition, but it is listed in Duveen (18). A copy in excellent condition (except for some slightly browned pages), bound in parchment, is in the Library of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. An ownership inscription, "ex libx Petr. Pauli Raphaelij,"' appears below the last line of the title and is repeated on page 1. Another copy is in the Duveen collection a t the University of Wisconsin. The other 1669 edition was in English, and has for its title, "Tyrocinium Chemicum: or, Chymical Essays," by John Beguinus; the publisher was Thomas Passenger, London. Neither the name of the translator nor the edition from which it was translated is mentioned. Patterson (14) has identified the translator as Richard R u s ~ e l l .Patterson ~ (16) also states that the English translation was apparently direct from the Latin of 1612. One would think that the translator would have chosen one of the later editions which were improved by various competent revisers after Beguin's death. However, a clue to the reason of his choice is given by Russell in the unsigned preface in which he says that his aim is ". . neither to add anything of his own, nor to omit [anything] of the Author's." Copies of the English version are in the Brooklyn Public Library, the Edgar F. Smith Library a t the University of Pennsylvania, and the libraries of Hanard, Yale, and the University of Wisconsin. It would be unprofitable to attempt to evaluate any influence which Beguin may have had on chemical thiikmg in Colonial America. But a t least his works were known. It has been mentioned previously that a 1612 edition was in the Pennsylvania Hospital Medical Library about 1750. Another instance is the 1634 Latin edition now in the Bowdoin College Library. On the flyleaf is the signature, "Ezra Stiles 1786." On
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6 For the origins of this practice see PARTINGTON, J. R.,Ambiz, 1,61 (1937). 7 A publication of Raphael's, "Sepulcrum Hermetis Reseratnm Sive De Opere Hermetieo Libri Tres Authoris Anonymi," Andream Paleti, Venice, 1715, is listed in Duveen, Ref. (IS),p. 496. For Russell's role as a translator of important chemical works, see FERQUSON, JORN,J. of the Alchemical Society, 2, 11 (1913).
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
the title page is the signature "A. HoImes," and the bookplate shows that it was presented to the library by The Rev. Abiel Holmes. Stiles was a universal scholar, distinguished clergyman, and seventh president of Yale. His wide and deep intellectual interests embraced a number of sciences, chemistry incIuded.8 Holmes, a distinguished historian and father of Oliver Wendell Holmes, was the son-in-law of Stiles, and inherited his books and papers. The contributions of Beguin to chemistry have been generally overlooked by historians of chemistry. However, the few editions of his text discussed in this paper are merely representative of many more which are available in American libraries. While I have not attempted a complete count of aU. copies of every edition of the "Tyrocinium Chemicum" in this country, I have ascertained that there are about 50 Latin, French, and English, and distributed in publication date from 1612 to 1669. This compares favorably with the 77 copies listed by Patterson (I) in European libraries. Thus there is ample opportunity in this country for the study of the work of this early French chemist.
to express his thanks. The author also acknowledges with gratitude the assistance of Aaron Polonsky (now a t Pennsylvania State University) who provided much bibliographical help with the Duveen collection a t the University of Wisconsin, William Henry Bond of the Houghton Library, Harvard University, and the librarians of the various institutions mentioned. LITERATURE CITED (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)
(9) (10)
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This paper is the result of part of a plan of independent study which the author pursued while on a Ford Foundation Faculty Fellowship, .. for which he wishes For a discussion of the experiments and other chemical activiPHILIPE., J. CHEM.EDUC.,13, ties of Stiles, see BROWNING, 222-24 (1936).
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PATTERSON, T . S., Ann. Sei., 2, 243-98 (1937). DE MILT,C., J . CEEM.EDUC.,18, 503, 505 (1941). DUVEEN, D. I., AND A. WILLEMART, Chymio, 2,111 (1949). LENGLET-DUFRESNOY, N., "Histoire de la Philosophie Hermetique," Coustelier, Paris, 1742, Vol. 1, p. 388. FERO~SON, J., "Bihliotheca Chemica," James Maelehose and Sons, 1906, Val. 1, p. 64. BOLTON, H. C., "Chemical Literature," Author's ed., Salem, 1882, p. 14. HOLMYARD, E. J., C h a . & I d . (London),43, 655 (1924). PATTERSON, T. S., op. eit., p. 297. Ibid., p. 249. MORTON,T. G., "History of the Pennsylvania Hospital, 1751-1895," Times Printing House, Philadelphia, 1879, n. 487. r~ -~ BEGUIN,JEAN, "Les Elemens de Chimie, Reueus, expliquer, et tlugmentes, par Jean Lucas de Roy. Medecin Boleducois," 4th ed., Jean Behourt, Rouen, 1647. HEAWOOD, E., watermark^ Mainly of the 17th and 18th Centuries," The Paper Publications Society, Hilversum, Holland, 1950, Fig. 1064. DUVEEN, D., "Bibliotheca Alchemica et Chemica," E. Weil, London. D. 64. PATTERSON, T. S., o p . cil.,.~.295 Ibid., p. 254.
(14) (15)
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