8.8.

Kepler and Alchemy

KARIN FIGALA

Technische Univers#iit, Miinchen

Summary A recently found printed funeral sermon for the alchemist and physician Martin Ruland II (1569-1611) is accompanied by an elegy by Kepler to his deceased friend Martin. This entirely unknown and unnoticed poem of Kepler's led to a closer study of his alchemical-chemical interests. The main sources for this research were Kepler's correspondence with his "alchemical friends", especially Martin Ruland II and Joachim Tanckius. Also by considering his published scientific works it is possible to see that, although Kepler did not himself experiment in the laboratory, he was excellently informed about the experiments of the contemporary alchemists (e.g. Tycho Brahe at the Court of Rudolf II in Prague). As a strong opponent to the magical, cabbalistic currents in alchemy ----e.g. Robert Fludd--Kepler's alchemical knowledge glimmers through his ideas about natural philosophy. I n a hitherto u n k n o w n funeral oration I for the E m p e r o r ' s personal physician M a r t i n Ruland I I (who was born on 11 N o v e m b e r 1569 in Lauingen, and died on 23 April 1611 in Prague), the following poem by Kepler is included. ~ Rulandus, quaeris, proprio de corpore causum Cur non arcuerit, c~m fuerit medicus ? In promptu causa est, uni servare Diaetam, Q uam jussit reliquos, non licuit Medico, Grassantem insequitur fesso dum corpore pestem, Ut praestet, Medicum quae decet una, fidem: Dum jubet esse procul curas, queis uritur ipse, Spem vultu simulans, tristia corde premens: Dum noctes vigilans vulgo conducere somnos Pensitat, et poscat quem bona cura modum: 1 See Notes on p. 463.

457

Karin Figala
Dum subit, unde iubet reliquos abscedere, tecta: Dum probat attactu, quod tetigisse nocet: Subvenit et miseris gratis, gaudetque medelis Marsupio nummos addere de proprio: Convalu~re alij, vertunt contagia in ipsum, Proque data precium tale salute tulit. Talis sulphureos quondam satiarat hiatus Curtis, in se ipso finijt atque luem. Dicite defuncto gratas longa agmina laudes: Digna sed 6 meritis praemia, Christe, dato. Amico sincero, deque mea meorumque valetudine optim~ merito 1.m.q. pepigi JOANNES KEPLERUS S.C. Maiest. Mathematicus

We supplement this text by a revealing recent German translation due to Dr. W. Batschelet, Basle: Keplers Trauergedicht.
Ruland hielt nicht ab vom eigenen K6rper die Krankheit, trotz seiner ~rztlichen Kunst. Wilist Du wohl wissen, warum ? Auf der Hand liegt die Antwort: Verwehrt war aUein es dem Arzt, was er den andern befahl, eine Di~t fiir sich selbst. W~hrend er miiden Leibs dem Angriff der Pest trat entgegen, um seine Pflicht zu erfiill'n, wie es geb~ihrte dem Arzt; W~ihrend er heischt, die Krankheit zu meiden, an der selbst er verbrennt, Hoffnung nach aussen hin heuchelnd, traurigen Herzens gedriickt, w~hrend er, wach in der Nacht die BUrger zum Schlafen zu bringen, Ihnen das Beste zu tun nach dem Gebot, war bedacht; w~hrend er H~user besucht, aus denen die andern er forttrieb, w~hrend er selbst untersucht, was zu berfihr'n ihm schadet, und die Armen behandelt' umsonst, ja freudigen Herzens eigenem Beutel entnahm, woes des Geldes bedurft': brachte er Heilung, zumal; sich selbst ansteckend indessen, zahlte er teuer daffir, dass er die Rettung gebracht. Schwefeld~mpf, die er nicht nur kurzen Moments konzentrierte, solche nahm er in sich auf und dazu noch die Pest. Sagt ihm Lob und Dank, die ihr traurigen Zuges daherkommt; Du aber schenk' ihm den Lohn, Christus, den -ach - er verdient.

The original Latin text is not listed in the Kepler Bibliography. 3 Kepler's "Epicedium" follows immediately after the funeral oration by the Protestant preacher Tobias Winter: it praises the idealism of Kepler's friend, laid low by the disease which as a doctor he has spent a lifetime fighting. Ruland died of an infectious fever, then termed "Petechia", 4 which raged in Prague in 1611. Indeed, since Ruland had written a special monograph on this illness, 5 Kepler's desperate cry"why should my friend just have died of this" is very apt. Kepler is known to have written other funeral- and wedding-poems, addressed to friends, relatives, and patrons. His bibliography lists seven of these; e in each case there were distinct personal or professional reasons for their writing. But why did Kepler choose to dedicate a poem to Martin Ruland II, the outstanding alchemist, 7 who was just one of his many friends in 458

Kepler and Alchemy

Regensburg and Prague ? Understandably the poem itself refers only to Ruland's work as a physician; but the only surviving letter from Ruland to Kepler (dated Regensburg, 24 February 1607) is exclusively concerned with chemical or alchemical matter. 8 In it ~ (Fig. 8.29) Ruland expresses his pleasure at Kepler's interest in his views. He even welcomes Kepler's criticisms, showing as they do the mathematician's theoretical concern with chemistry. Ruland is particularly eager to show the advantages of the spagyric (Paracelsian) medicaments over those (mostly herbal) known since Antiquity, since the times of Hippocrates and Galen. He takes up in detail Kepler's doubts on the processes of transmutation--doubts based on the thought that gold and silver may be melted by the inner heat of the Earth, but that this was scarcely possible by man-made means. Ruland, however, points out that even a swallowed coin could be corroded "by the body's heat". He emphasizes that in natural smelting some additional factor, as well as the Earth's heat, has to be active to break up the "structure" of the metal into its elements. Ruland also discusses Kepler's criticism of an alleged transmutation in which an iron knife is said to have been turned to gold with the help of a tincture (or powder). Ruland knows of this experiment 1 but only by hearsay; apart from his scepticism towards experts in "false transmutations", whom he suspects, he is still ready to discuss the theoretical possibility of a genuine transmutation. 1~ Kepler apparently admitted that some change of form --showing itself as a colour change--was possible in the transmutation of metals, but had not accepted the possible change from iron to gold, giving as his reason the different densities of the two metals. Ruland apparently also believes that an increase in weight can take place in transmutation, and explains this not through the Aristotelian theory "forma et materia", but through the alchemistic sulphur and mercury theory. According to this, mercury is fixed and "completed" through the "virtues" of the tincture. The mercury-principle is responsible for the "heaviness" of a body, the sulphur-principle, however, for its "lightness". In this way Ruland feels that the gain in weight can readily be explained. Ruland, the Paracelsian and alchemist, applies Kepler's view of the healing powers of medicaments to advance the benefits of the "spagyric" art. For this extracts the "essential" ingredients, whereas the conventional draughts contain too much inert material and lack the "stabile subjectum", so that they irritate but do not fully cure The date of this letter suggests that Kepler had just read the Progymnasmata, which appeared in Frankfurt in 1606, and that this has given rise to his queries and doubts. Unfortunately, Kepler's letter containing his questions has not been found; but its contents can be deduced, since even the subjects of Ruland's answer still correspond to those of the book. For example, in the Progymnasmata Ruland frequently emphasizes that fire is the most important tool of the chemist, and that it can artificially and "more speedily" imitate the processes of Nature. TM Again the comparison between the stomach's heat with that found in Nature and in the chemical laboratory, mentioned in the letter, is also made in the book. ~3The presence

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of other factors besides natural heat in the processes of solution and coagulation is referred to by Ruland in his letter, quoting the case of minerals which in water-outside their "home"--do not combine, but only coagulate. A similar comment is found in the book, 14 where Ruland declares that semen has the "virtus" of combining only in its own "realm"; outside of this, only coagulation--not solution--takes place. In the same way the book contains a comment similar to that in the letter, namely that a "characteristic mixture"--a concept more closely defined in note 15--is required, as well as heat, for solution (concoctio) to take place. Kepler's untraced letter may well have mentioned the controversy between the two Regensburg medical men Ruland and Oberndorfer,16 which had developed since 1606 and by 1610 became a public literary dispute? 7 Kepler was friendly with both; Oberndorfer, the noted physician, had known Kepler since his time in Graz (1594-1600). On 22 July 1622, in fact, he became godfather to Kepler's daughter Cordula. 18 Kepler's only known letter to Oberndorfer19 dates from this period, and he is mentioned appreciatively several times in Kepler's correspondence.2 Ruland, likewise, is also mentioned several times. 21 One cannot say whether Kepler was thinking of the dispute between the two doctors when he wrote in his poem the words "sulphureos satiarat hiatus", but Ruland in one of his polemics against Oberndorfer dubs him "sulphureus", 22 along with other terms of abuse, as was the custom then. Kepler's interest in chemical problems appears even more clearly from his exchange of letters with Joachim Tanckius, the Leipzig Professor of Medicine (1537-1609). 33 Tanckius was an enthusiastic alchemist and follower of Paracelsus, and already at this time he was seeking his own professorship of Chemistry. 24 Apart from his own chemical writings he became well known for his Foreword to the Triumphwagen Antimonii (1604), attributed to a writer known as Basilius Valentinus. Some authors, indeed, go so far as to name Tanckius as the true author of the publications ascribed to this legendary Benedictine monk. 25 In the correspondence, Tanckius mentions several times that he had abandoned mathematics and was dedicating himself wholly to chemistry.26 "Now he would work in Vulcan's workshop to wrestle Nature's secrets from her. ''27 Indeed, the correspondence touches on similar questions to those raised in Ruland's letter. Thus Tanckius compares the bodily functions with chemical processes, whereby in the stomach, which he compares to a reactionvessel (olla), the foodstuffs are dissolved into their "prima materia". In this, as a Paracelsian, he finds the role of "Archeus" importantY 8 In the letter of 24 January 1608 Kepler's comet-spirits are discussed, 29 and on 18 April 1608 Tanckius writes3 about the influence of stellar positions on the transmutation of silver into gold according to Trithemius. In typically symbolic manner, the action of the other metals necessary for this tro,n~mutation is compared to the interpenetration of the planetary spheres. Kepler replied to Tanckius in a detailed letter, in which he develops the foundations of his harmonic theory according to Plato's Timdus?~

461

Karin Figala
Somewhat later, Kepler had occasion to express his views on the Aristotelian theory of the elements in public. 3~ Kurd Lasswitz remarks how interesting it is "to see the attitude of a man of Kepler's stature to the theories of his time". 33 Though Kepler as a non-chemist is reluctant to take sides, he nevertheless expresses some views on these matters: " . . . Und ob ich mich wol noch nie resolvirt, alweil ich kein Chymicus bin, so wil mich doch geduncken, das Fewer sey materialiter nichts anders, dann der Schwebel, sulphur in motu constitutum: sulphur aber ist ein Werck, opus, der Seelen im Leib, wie das Blut. Were also das Fewer formaliter ein accidens. . . . -34 Kepler holds the materials of the world as such (actu et potentia) to be cold, dead and heavy. Heat, movement and life are called up by the soul (spiritus) which permeates the body. Thus, for example, as well as the universal aetheric spirit, the Earth has its own spirit which gives rise to geological activity, such as the creation of metals, the storage of the Earth's heat, the release of vapours as streams and rain as well as the formation of the other "meteoric" components. 35 Since Kepler sees all heat as a result of the action of the "spiritus", he believes that fire can be excluded from the four Aristotelian elements.3e Accordingly he denies the existence of a special sphere for the fiery element. He prefers to regard actual fire as a "heavenly chance-event" which he compares with moving sulphur or blood. From this it follows that the heat found in bodies--and also in the human body-must gradually be used up. As already mentioned, Ruland and Tanckius assumed that the process of solution required both heat and another factor, called by Tanckius "Archeus".37 His two correspondents based their thinking on Paracelsus' three principles and Aristotle's elements, and consequently have to assume an additional "active" principle. Kepler, however, in only recognizing three of Aristotle's elements, can use fire as this active principle. It may be that the alchemists unknowingly led him to this line of thought. For Kepler the idea of a Trinity is so dominant3s that in this he is more "alchemical" than his two medical colleagues.39 Kepler was not alone in rejecting fire as the fourth element. Not only Cardanus, whom he actually quotes, but also the Court Physician ("Pfalzgr~ifischer und hanauischer Leibarzt") Helis~us R6slin (1544-1616) shared his view. (It was R6slin's criticism of Kepler's De Stella Nova of 1606 that caused Kepler to publish his detailed tract in which he expresses his chemical views most fully.) R6slin also rejected warmth and moisture as properties of air, thus calling the Aristotelian scheme of elements even more in question. It is true that in the Appendix to Book 5 of the Harmonices Mundi Kepler seems to take a rather negative view of the alchemists in defending himself against Robert Fludd (1574-1637). He says: "One can see, too, that he delights most in mysterious puzzle-pictures of reality, while I prefer to bring the dark shrouded facts of Nature into the light. His (Fludd's) method is that of the Chymists, Hermetics, and Paracelsians, but mine is that of the mathematicians. ''4 Elsewhere at the same period Kepler says: "I hate all cabbalists". 41 Here i't appears that Kepler is attacking only

462

Kepler and Alchemy

the occult alchemists who like F l u d d concern themselves with Cabbala, Magic, G e o m a n c y , Astrology, and so forth, rather than the more experimentally minded " I a t r o c h e m i s t s " . Paracelsism had by this time somewhat disintegrated; Libavius, who praised Ruland I I in the F o r e w o r d to his Alchemy, and wrote a funeral address for his father, 42 had already taken issue with this English occultist Fludd, who prided himself on being a Paracelsian. 43 So, even though K e p l e r was not one of the principal figures in the alchemical circles of the Court of R u d o l f I I , 44 and even though his perhaps more scientific contributions to chemical progress were only sporadic, Partington's remark 45 " t h e historians of chemistry have nothing to say about K e p l e r " seems a little short of the mark.

Notes 1. Christliche Lob-und Klagpredigt / Bey dem Begr~ibnus desz weiland Edlen / und Ehrnvesten / Achtbarn und / Hochgelehrten / Herrn MARTINI / RULANDI, der Artzney Docto- / ris, und R6m. Kay. Mayestat bestel-/ten Medici;/Welcher selig in Christo entschlaffen zu/ Prag / Anno 1611, den 23. Aprilis: und den 27. / desselben Christlich / in ansehenlicher / Volckreicher Versam- / lung / mit viler Threnen und Seuffzen / in der Kirchen / zu S. Nicolai auff der kleinen Seiten / zur / Erden bestattet worden. / Gehalten durch / Tobiam VVinterum, teutschen Evange- / lischen Prediger daselbsten. / Sampt etlichen epicediis. / (Titelvignette) / Gedruckt zu Laugingen / durch M. Jakob / Winter / im Jahre 1612. This funeral oration--which interprets Syrach, Chapter 38, verse 4--appears to be very rare. Even the catalogue of the "Fiirstlich Stolberg-Stolberg'schen Leichenpredigten-Sammlung, Bd. III, Leipzig 1930 (in: BibliothekfamiliengeschichtlicherQuellen, Bd. II), p. 535, etc." only mentions the brother Johann and the father, Martin Ruland I. H. W. Singer, AllgemeinerBildniskatalog,Bd. 10, Leipzig, 1933, p. 274, records portraits both for Martin Ruland I in Halle, as also for Martin Ruland II in Dresden (B 1469, 2). 2. Kepler's poem can be found on page (16) of the unnumbered funeral oration. Since the title page lists several "Epicedien", additional pages appear to have existed, but are missing in our copy. The poem can be found under the general title "EPIDECIA IN OBITUM/Nobilis, magnifici, clarrissimique viri, / Dn. MARTINI RULANDI F. / MEDICINAE DOCTORIS, CHEMICI SO-/lertis, Comitis Palatini Caesarei, R U D O L P H I / I I . Imp. Aug. PersonaeMedici excell. / ab Amicis, affinibus & c. conscripta. / I. / ". The author of this essay has presented this copy to the Keplerkommission der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, in Munich, for its collection. 3. BibliographiaKepleriana, edited by M. Caspar (2nd edition by M. List), Munich, 1968. The bibliography lists only the printed works. Kepler's manuscripts are catalogued in special lists by the Keplerkommission. 4. The preacher Tobias Winter speaks in his funeral oration of the poisonous fever "Petechia" as the cause of death. This kind of "Fleckfieber" is usually connected with spots and symptoms like those of typhoid. At that time there was, of course, very little precise description or classification of diseases, so whole groups of infectious epidemics were described as "plagues". 5. "De Perniciosae luis ungaricae tecmarsi et curatione tractatu, historicis curis atque observationibus 30, nec non quaestionibus aliquot.., locupletatus, autore... Martino Rulando..., Frankfurt 1600." Apart from this edition, mentioned in the catalogue of the Biblioth6que Nationale, the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (1889) also mentions editions published in Leipzig in 1610 and 1616, in Lyon in 1628, and in Stettin in 1651. As a letter from Tanckius to

463

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Kepler (see note 21) shows, there might also have existed a lost edition published by Nerlich in Leipzig in about 1608, provided that the mentioned tract De peste is not an altogether unknown independent paper by Ruland. The Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie mentions on p. 635 that this paper is even today a readable and noteworthy publication. Ruland declares the "Hungarian Lues" to be identical with the Petechia-typhoid of the Italians and French and emphasizes his belief in the contagious nature of this illness (Pagel). 6. Bibliographia (see note 3) No. 1 (wedding poem for J. Huldenricus in 1590). No. 2 (funeral poem for U. Holpius in 1592). No. 3 (funeral poem for S. Heiland in 1592). No. 13 (funeral poem for Tycho Brahe in 1601). No. 28 (wedding poem for C. Dornavius in 1608). Nos. 41-42 (funeral poem for RudolfII, greeting-poem for Emperor Matthias in 1612-13). No. 50 (memorial poem of 1616 for his son Friedrich, who died on 19 February 1611, and for his wife Barbara, who died on 3 July t611). We should note that Martin Ruland II died between these two dates, namely on 24 April 1611. All three were victims of the same Hungarian illness which was brought to Prague on 15-16 February 1611 by soldiers from Passau. According to Kepler's own testimony his wife--like Ruland II--died in attending to the sick. 7. Martin Ruland II, also called the Younger, matriculated at the age of 14 (on 13 September 1583) at T/ibingen University. The matriculation record of Basel shows that in the year 1590 he was in Jena, and that on 14 November 1592 he became Dr. med. in Basel. In 1594, returning home from his studies abroad, he became Town Physician of Regensburg. From our newly discovered funeral oration we learn that he married the daughter Benigna of the "kurf/irstlich-k61nische Rat", Councillor Johannes Diemer, and that they had thirteen children of whom eight were still alive at his death. His successful medical activities came to the notice of the Princes who took part in the "Reichstag" in Regensburg, in particular the Archduke Matthias and the Emperor Rudolph II. The latter summoned Ruland II on 16 March 1607 to Prague as Court Physician (a post which his father had held until his death in 1602). We now list his publications: Firstly, we note his monograph mentioned in Note 5. The catalogue of the Biblioth6que Nationale, and J. R. Partington in his History of Chemistry (London, 1961, Vol. II, p. 161) also mention the following additional works: 2. "Nova et in omni memoria inaudita historia de aureo dente, qui nuper in Silesia puero cuidam septenni succrevisse.., animadversus est: deque eodem judicium Martini Rulandi f i l i i . . . --Francofurti, impensis P. Kopfii, 1595. (Le judicium de Ruland est dat6, 20 julii 1595.)" 3. "Martini Rulandi f i l i i . . . Demonstratio juditii de dente aureo pueri silesii, adversus responsionem M. Johannis Ingolsteteri.--Francofurti, impensis C. Sutorii, 1597." 4. Progymnasmata alchemiae, sive Problemata chymica nonaginta et una quaestionibus dilucidata, cum Lapidis philosophici vera conficiendi ratione, auctore Martino R u l a n d o . . . - Francofurti, e collegio Musarum paltheniano, 1607. 3 part. en 1 vol. (La d6dicace, dat6e Ratisbonae, 10 maii 1606, est sign6e: Martinus Rulandt.--La 2e partie est form~e par un Appendix quaestionum chymicarum.--La 3e partie a, sous la m~me date et ~ la m~me adresse, un titre propre: Lapidis philosophici vera conficiendi ratio, gemino eruta tractatu, opera Martini R u l a n d i . . . - - L e titre de d6part du 1e" trait6 est: Atdt~rlc~/tglapidis philosophici nova; celui du 2~: Tractatus alter de lapide philosophico anonymi c u j u s d a m . . . - - L a d~dicace de l'6diteur est dat~e: Ratisponae, 16 januarii 1606.--L'ouvrage est g6n6ralement attribu6, par erreur, sembletil, a Ruland p6re, mort en 1602.) 5. Propugnaculum Chymiatriae: Das ist, Beantwortung und beschiitzung der Alchymistischen Artzneyen, etlicher Spuriogalenisten verleumbdungen und die vortreftlichen hochnutzbarlichen Chymiatriae, unchristlich und unbillichem verdammen entgegen gesatzt. Leipzig, 1608. 6. Problematum medico-physicorum liber primus, auctore Martino Rulando,... [Problematum medico-physicorum pars secunda Martini Rulandi.]--Francofurti, e collegio Musarum paltheniano, 1608. 2 parties en 1 vol. 7. Alexlcacus chymiatncus: puris putis, mendaciis atque calumniis atrocissimis Joannis Oberndorferi, quibus larvatus ille medicus apologiam suam, chymico-medicam practicam... consarcinavit, oppositus.., famae integritatis suae jure a Martino Rulando,... [29 aug. 1610.] --Francofurti, prostat apud Palthenium, 1611.

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Kepler and Alchemy

8. Lexicon alchemiae, sive Dictionarium alchemisticum, cum obscuriorum verborum et rerum hermeticarum, turn Theophrast-Paracelsicarum phrasium, planam explicationem continens, auctore Martino Rulando,...--Francofurti, cura ac sumpt. Palthenii, 1612. (La d6dicace de l'auteur est dat~e: Pragae, 20 aprilis 1611.--N~anmoins l'ouvrage est g~n~ralement attribu~, par erreur semble-t-il, a Ruland p6re, mort en 1602.) In this connection we reproduce (Fig. 8.30) a letter from Ruland to the Basle doctor, Caspar Bauhin. The handwriting may be compared with that of Fig. 8.29. Kepler, Gesammelte Werke, vol. XV, pp. 406-7, letter No. 411. (The references to Kepler's writings refer to the edition of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the "Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften", Munich, 1938, etc.) Figure 8.29 is a facsimile of this letter. The following two extracts are particularly noteworthy: "Cogitationes chymicas, Mathematicorum praestantissime, amice observande tibi probari meas, gaudeo. Illud enim demum laudabile inditium, quod ab eruditis proficiscitur. Rerum chymicarum te non plan~ ignarum esse, objectiones solerter propositae in medium ostendunt; ad quas statim, tuis lectis, respondissem, si otium et tempus fuisset o c c u p a t i s s i m o . . . " And " . . . Elegans est, quod appingis, de calore ventriculi medicamenta purgantia dispergente per totum corpus... This seems to refer to the then famous and much discussed transmutation of the Scottish alchemist Alexander Seton (died 1604). He is said to have used a particular tincture or "transforming powder" to turn lead, iron, etc., into gold. Sendivogius, Seton's noted successor, also performed transmutations in the alchemical circles of Prague at the Court of Rudolf I I. Indeed, in 1604 we hear reports of a transmutation performed by the Emperor himself. In the Appendix Quaestionum Chymicarum we find an extensive discussion of this; a statement on p. 41 will serve as a characteristic example: " . . . Natura non potest ex plumbo aurum facere. Ergo nec ars. Resp. Negari connexum. Natura enim fecit quandoque per se ex plumbo aurum; si arte fit ex plumbo aurum non fit ex plumbo aurum non fit id repugnante natura. Natura tamen non potis sit id fabricare, an arti idem erit impossibile. Neg. Natura non potest laxata reponere, ars potest, Ergo." (XIIX Argumentum.) Progymnasmata, p. 7: "Chymico non est aliud habilius instrumentum igni"; De lapide philosophico, p. 58. This work which was later attached to the Progymnasmata--published by Ruland in Frankfurt in 1606--is nominally by Sendivogius, but was actually written by Seton (see K. C. Schmieder, Geschichte der Alchemie, p. 345, Halle, 1832). This reference is not usually quoted-thus Partington, for instance, does not mention it. The catalogue of the Biblioth6que Nationale lists this work under Ruland, but does not mention that it is derived from Sendivogius or Seton. At the end of the text, however, is the unambiguous passage: " . . . Si quaeritis quis; cosmopolita sum: si me nostis, & boni ac honesti viri esse desideratis, tacebitis: si me non nostis, nolite de me i n q u i r e r e . . . " (p. 152). Partington (II, 427), it is true, believes that the name "Cosmopolita" refers to Sendivogius, since the later editions of this publication appear under the latter's name. Tradition has it, however, that Seton took this name Cosmopolita for himself because of his wanderings. In Alexicacus we find the sentence: "Si itaque corpus humanum catharticum sublimare potest, vos non artificium chymiae ?" (p. 92). This work is ascribed to Ruland I, the father, in the catalogue of the Biblioth+que Nationale, even though both the foreword and the end of the text carry the date 29 August 1610. Martin Ruland I, however, died on 3 February 1602. He is also named as the inventor of the "Aqua benedicta Rulandi" (on p. 22). And on page 100 we find an extract from a letter to his brother Andreas who is (also mentioned on pp. 3, 18, 30-31); while his brother Valentine is mentioned on p. 17, and his brother Johann on p. 102. All these three doctors are addressed by name in the funeral oration. Altogether there seems to be some confusion about the Ruland manuscripts in the literature. Thus even the Lexicon Alchemiae is ascribed to Ruland I in the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (I 889). In C. G. J6cher's A llgemeines Gelehrtenlexikon (Leipzig, 1751) this work is mentioned neither under Ruland I nor under Ruland II. Like Libavius in his Alchemia, Ruland II appears in this Lexicon more in an empirical light than as a speculative alchemist. Transmutations and similar occult arts are not described.

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FI~. 8.30. Letter from Martin Ruland II to Caspar Bauhin, of Basle; Regensburg, 26 January 1604. (Universit~its-Bibliothek Basel, Fr. Gr. MS.I, 14 No. 30.)

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But by quoting the "Lapis Philosophicus" of the "Cosmopolita" (see note 12) in his Progymnasmata, Ruland shows that he is not totally opposed to these mystical studies. With regard to the bibliographic doubts, we may comment that even Partington (II, 161) seems to have thought that the "Progymnasmata" might be due to Ruland I. But this overlooks a point of the original text, for in the Appendix Quaestionum Chymicarum (p. 88) the writer calls on his father as witness. A closer study of the almost forgotten Ruland manuscripts might certainly well be worth while, as they offer important material for the history of chemistry and pharmacy. De lapidephilosophico, p. 117. On p. 96 of the Prog, ymnasmata we find the following statement: " . . . Q.uin etiam hoc argumentum liquet, crasin non esse ipsam formam, seu naturam rei, cum crasis dicatur secundum naturam inesse." Johann Oberndorfer (who was born in 1549, and died in 1625 in K6then), after completion of his studies in Jena and Vienna, became chief medical officer in Regensburg (1584), where the records of his visits to the apothecaries during the plague of 1585 are still extant in extracts (cf. C. Habrich, "Apothekengeschichte Regensburgs in reichsst~dtischer Zeit", in: Neue Miinchner Beitrdge zur Geschichte der Medizin und Naturwissenschaften, Medizinhistorische Reihe, Vol. 1, Munich, 1970, p. 44). He then moved to Graz, and following the expulsion of the Protestants in 1597 he returned to Regensburg. At his own expense he laid out the first botanical garden in the town and wrote a scientific description of it (see K. St6ckl, Keplerfestschrift, I, Regensburg, 1930, p. 74). Partington (II, 161, etc.) mentions that Oberndorfer attacked Ruland in a publication of 1610:

14. 15.

16.

17.

Apologia Chymico-Medica Practica... Adversus illiberales Martini Rulandi Person. Medici Calumnias..., Amberg, 1610). He declares that he has been using chemical medicaments for 30 years already. Ruland replied to these criticisms in his Alexicacus Chymiatricus. There we read
18. 19. 20. that the quarrel must have started in 1606, if not earlier, when Ruland felt himself unjustly accused of using "venenata medicamenta". Ch. Frisch, Opera Kepleri, Vol. VIII, pars 2: Vita Johannis Kepleri, p. 878. Kepler, Gesammelte Werke, Vol. XVIII, Letter No. 931 (Linz, 17-27 May 1622). Kepler, Gesammelte Werke, Vol. XIII, Letter No. 41 (Tfibingen, 17 May 1596, Papius to Kepler), Letter No. 45 (Tfibingen, 7 June 1596, Papius to Kepler), Letter No. 60 (Graz, 10 February 1597, Kepler to M~istlin). Here (on p. 106) two books by Oberndorfer are mentioned: "De venenis, item Nomenclaturam simplicium". Since Kepler uses the word "scribit", it is not certain whether this is perhaps the book published 3 years later: De veri etfalsi medici agnitione tractatus brevis in theorematumforma conscriptus..., Lauingen, 1600; however, from the title this seems rather unlikely. Kepler, Gesammelte Werke,Vol. XVI, Letter No. 466 (K6nigsberg,25 November 1607,Papius to Kepler). There (p. 99) it is mentioned that already at this time Martin Ruland I was a Protestant. From Letter No. 474 (Leipzig, 3 January 1608, Tanckius to Kepler) we learn (p. 108) that Ruland had just published a tract about the plague at the house of Nerlich in Leipzig. This appears to be a lost edition ofDepeste, which is nowhere referred to. Partington (II, 187) mentions an introduction by Tanckius to the Haligraphia by Th61de, which was published in 1603 by the bookseller Jakob Apels, as mentioned in the letter; see note 24. The Letter No. 514 (Leipzig, 26 November 1608, Tanckius to Kepler) contains on p. 212 Tanckius' request that Kepler should give his greetings to Ruland. This is evidence of the friendship between the three men. In Alexicacus, on p. 105 (in the copy that I have consulted, at the Staatsbibliothek Mfinchen, Mat. med. 204, this has been wrongly paginated as page 87) Ruland asks the ironical question: " . . . Q.uo prorumpis audaciae & impudentiae Oberndorfere ? Sulphureus iniuriosum tibi? Proba calumniator ?" One wonders whether the closing passage of the funeral oration--"... his other human attributes let us now lay to e a r t h . . . " - - d o e s not refer to Ruland's quarrelsome nature; he even fell out in public with his own brother (Alexicacus, p. 100, etc.). Only Letter No. 493 is from Kepler to Tanckius, all the others are addressed to Kepler. The correspondence can be found in Kepler, Gessamelte Werke, Vol. XVI : Letter No. 468 (Leipzig, 13 December 1607, p. 101), Letter No. 472 (Leipzig, 30 December 1607, p. 105), Letter No.

21.

22.

23.

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Karin Figala
474 (Leipzig, 3 January 1608, p. 107, etc.), Letter No. 479 (Leipzig, 24 January 1608, p. 112, etc.), Letter No. 483 (Leipzig, 29 February 1608, p. 131), Letter No. 484 (Leipzig, 5 March 1608, p. 132), Letter No. 491 (Leipzig, I 1 April 1608, p. 153), Letter No. 492 (Leipzig, 18 April 1608, p. 153), Letter No. 493 (Prague, 12 May 1608, p. 154, etc.), Letter No. 514 (Leipzig, 26 November 1608, p. 211, etc.), Letter No. 526 (Leipzig, 11 April 1609, p. 237, etc.). 24. H. Kopp, Die Alchemie in dlterer und neuerer Zeit, Heidelberg, 1886, Vol. II, p. 347. Joachim Tanck or Tancke, called Tanckius, was born on 4 December 1557 at Perleberg in Brandenburg; he studied in Leipzig, and was Professor of Poetry, Anatomy and Surgery there until his death on 17 November 1609. For the bibliography see the General Catalogue of Printed Books in the British Museum in London. Partington (II, 187, etc.) mentions in addition: (1)Verses to Th61de's Haligraphia das ist Grfindliche und eigendliche Beschreibung aller Saltz Mineralien. . . in Verlegung Jakob Apels . . . . Eisleben, 1603. (2) Metallurgia, das ist : Von der Generation und Geburt der Metallen. . . von einem Philosopho Hermetico beschrieben, und publiciret, durch Joachimum Tanckium D. in Chymisch-Unterirdischer Sonnen-Glantz, Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1728. 25. St. Lindroth, Tillfrdgan om Basilius Valentinus, Lychnos, 1940, p. 325, etc. The other viewpoint, which denies Tanckius' authorship, seems to us to be supported by Martin Ruland's remark in Alexicacus, p. 27, where he mentions, for example "Basilius Frater tantum abest" in his discussion of antimony. Since Ruland's book appeared in 1611, 7 years after Tanckius' Foreword to the Triumphwagen Antimonii of Basilius, Tanckius' authorship seems even less likely in view of his friendship with Ruland (see note 21). 26. Letter No. 468 (see note 23). 27. Letter No. 474 (see note 23) : "Matheseos professor non sum sed Medicinae: olim tamen gnaviter tractavi Mathemata: nunc frequentius sum in officina Vulcani, Chimica opera Naturae arcana investigans." 28. Letter No. 514 (see note 23). 29. Letter No. 479 and Letter No. 483 (see note 23). 30. Letter No. 492 (see note 23). 31. Letter No. 493 (see note 23). 32. (a)Antwort Joannis Kepleri... auff D. Helisaei R6slini Medici & Philosophi Discurs Von heutiger zeit beschaffenheit/und wie es ins kfinfftig ergehen werde. Belangend sonderlich etliche puncten so D. R6slin auss Kepleri Buch de Stella Anni 1604 angezogen... Prag, 1609. See Kepler, Gesammelte Werke, Vol. IV, pp. 99-144. (b) Tertius Interveniens. Das ist / Warnung an etliche Theologos, Medicos und Philosophos, sonderlich D. Philippum Feselium, dass sie bey billicher Verwerffung der Sternguckerischen Aberglauben / nicht das Kindt mit dem Badt auss-schiitten und hiermit ihrer Profession unwissendt zuwider handlen..., Frankfurt/ Main, 1610. See Kepler, Gesammelte Werke, Vol. IV, pp. 145-258. 33. Kurd Lasswitz, Geschichte der Atomistik vom Mittelalter bis Newton, 2 vols., 2nd ed. Vol. 1, p. 327; Leopold Voss, Leipzig, 1926. 34. Kepler, Gesammelte Werke, Vol. IV, p. 142 (see note 32(a)). 35. Kepler, Gesammelte Werke, Vol. IV, p. 143 (see note 32 (a)) and p. 23. Here (p. 23) reference is made to Kepler's De Fundamentis Astrologiae Certioribus, Prag, 1601. Indeed, here Kepler was writing on the basis of his philosophy almost ten years before the two above-mentioned works (see note 32). 36. Johannis Kepleri Mathematici, pro suo opere Harmonices mundi Apologia adversus demonstrationem analyticam CL. V. D. Roberti de Fluctibus Medici Oxoniensis..., Frankfurt, 1622. See "Ad Analysim XXI" in Kepler, Gesammelte Werke, Vol. VI, p. 439, etc. This publication shows Kepler to be very well informed about the alchemical theories of his time. 37. See note 28. 38. Wolfgang Pauli describes the contrast between Fludd's Fourfold Principle and Kepler's Trinity in his book Der Einfluss archetypischer Vorstellungen auf die Bildung naturwissenschaftlicher Theorien bei Kepler. ("Studien aus dem C. G. Jung-Institut Z~irich": Vol. IV: Naturerkldrung und Psyche, Zfirich, 1952, pp. 109-94.)

468

Kep#r and Alchemy

39. The significance of the Trinity Principle for the Christian alchemy in contrast to the Fourfold Principle of the ancient philosophers is also discussed by C. G. Jung in his writings. 40. Johannes Kepler, Weltharmonik. Translated and introduced by M. Caspar, Darmstadt, 1967, p. 362; Kepler, Gesammelte Werke, Vol. VI, p. 374. 41. Introduction to Weltharmonik by M. Caspar, p. 54 (see note 40). 42. Catalogue of the Fiirstlich Stolberg-Stolberg'schen Leichenpredigten-Sammlung, Vol. III, Leipzig, 1930 (in Bibliothekfamiliengeschichtlicher Quellen, Vol. II), p. 536. 43. According to Partington (II, 245) in: Wolmeinendes Bedencken, / Von der Fama, und Confession der Briiderschafft dess Rosen Creutzes. . ., Frankfurt, 1616; and in:Analysis Confessionis Fraternitatis De Rosea Cruce in Appendix Necessaria Syntagmatis Arcanorum Chym#orum, Frankfurt, 1615. 44. Kepler had come to Prague in 1600 as assistant to Tycho Brahe. At the very least he seems to have observed Tycho's alchemical activity in a most careful manner, as we can conclude from p. 247 of his Tertius Interveniens, where we read: "Was nun hie D. Feselius fiir instantias etlicher Kr~utter eynftihret ] besorge ich / ein Medieus m6chte auch etwas einzureden haben / E 4. unnd etwan nicht gestehen ]dass die rohte Rose allerdings kalter art ]ob sie schon ffir die Hitz gut / weil ich bey Herrn Tycho Brahae gesehen [ dass er den allersch~irpffesten / hitzigsten / und auff der Zungen gantz subtil brennenden Brandtwein auss rohten Rosenbl~itter ohne Maceration in einem andern Brandtwein extrahirt. Item m6chten Sic sagen ] man soll nicht eben auff die Farb sehen/oder man soll Bliiht und Frucht von einander unterscheiden:..." Martin Ruland's views on the illness of Rudolf II in March 1612 are given in a manuscript; "Heinz Schrecker, Prager Tagebuch des Melchior Goldast yon Hainingsfeldt," p. 267. 45. Partington II, 345.

469