Kurze Beschreibung von Verfertigung einer Essentia dulcis, nebst zwei von ihr entsprungenden Medicamenten, nehmlich: des schwarzen Pulvers und des sogenanten Balsami mineralis.

Format:

Manuscript

Author/Creator:

Kleinfeld, Christian Ernest.

Language:

English

German

Latin

Subjects (All):

Devotional literature, German.

Pharmacology.

Medicine--Formulae, receipts, prescriptions.

Medicine.

Chemistry--History.

Chemistry.

History.

Genre:

codices (bound manuscripts)

hymns

prayers (compositions)

prescriptions

recipes

Manuscripts, German.

Manuscripts, English.

Manuscripts, European.

Penn Provenance:

Sold by Ida W. Schuman, ca. 1960s.

Physical Description:

179 leaves : paper ; 164 x 100 (151 x 90) mm bound to 168 x 115 mm

Place of Publication:

[Germany or United States], 1722-1815.

Language Note:

German, with 10 leaves containing prescriptions in Latin and German, and a few leaves with notes in English.

Summary:

A description of a so-called "essentia dulcis," or gold tincture, a secret remedy which was purported to be derived from pure gold, and of two preparations derived from it, "black powder" and "mineral balsam." Their history, composition, and medicinal applications are given. The invention of the "essentia dulcis" has been ascribed to the physician Christian Friedrich Richter (1676-1711) of Halle, who is mentioned in the text; there are also references to the Königsberg medical faculty and to the Collegium medicum at Berlin. Bound in with the above tract are the following additions written in various hands at about the same time: 10 leaves containing medical prescriptions in Latin and German; 5 leaves, one containing diary entries in English, dated 1814-1815; 121 leaves of prayers, hymns, etc. in German; and 5 leaves containing accounts in English, dated 1812-1813, f. 172-174 appear to have been torn out.

Notes:

Ms. codex.

Title supplied by cataloger (Zacour-Hirsch).

Foliation: Paper, 179; [1-179]; modern foliation in ink, upper right recto.

Script: Written in a cursive script by multiple hands.

Binding: Contemporary parchment, damaged on lower cover.

Origin: Written in Germany or the United States, 1722 (f. 1r) to 1815 (f. 43v). Zacour-Hirsch say that this manuscript was probably brought from Germany to the colonies by an unnamed immigrant. Notes in English may have been made in Philadelphia, "1814 May 2 my daughter moved into the house 13 South Fourth Street."

Cited in:

Described in Zacour, Norman P. and Hirsch, Rudolf. Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Libraries of the University of Pennsylvania to 1800 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1965), p. 234 (Ms. E.F. Smith 12).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 502.

OCLC:

155964349

Access Restriction:

Access to this item is subject to staff review.