Adam of Bodenstein

(b. 1528; d. Basel, Switzerland, 1577)

medicine, alchemy.

Adam was doctor of arts and medicine at Basel, where he studied and practiced medicine. He was a follower of the doctrines of Paracelsus, who had taught medicine at Basel and had been known especially for his emphasis upon the relationship between medicine and minerals, being noted particularly for his advocacy of the use of metallic compounds in medicine. Adam participated with other scholars of his time, among whom were Michael Toxites, Adam Schröter, George Forberger, Balthasar Flüter, and Gerard Dorn, in the translation, editing and publication of works by Paracelsus still in manuscript. He preceded these editions with prefatory remarks of his own. His chief contemporary rival in the interpretation of Paracelsus was Leo Suavus (Jacques Gohory).

In close association with Paracelsus’ special predilection for the use of metallic compounds, Adam developed an interest in minerals, particularly in the traditional alchemical process of transmuting baser metals into gold. In the Epistola addressed to the Fuggers, he related the circumstances of the change in his opinion of alchemy from one of scorn and contempt for it as a suspect art and for those who wrote on it as evil men, to a belief in the verity of alchemy and of the philosophers’ stone. This change he attributed to his discovery of the famous alchemical tract, the Rosarium, of Arnald of Villanova. On reading that work and taking cognizance of the author’s orderly procedure and the presentation of the variety of theories, persons, and scientific paraphernalia involved in the art of alchemy, Adam was convinced that the contentions of the alchemists were valid and that the transmutation of baser metals into gold was possible. He strongly affirmed this conviction in the Isagoge, or introduction to Arnald of Villanova’s Rosarium, which he paraphrased or edited. Adam of Bodenstein went on to expound the traditional views set forth by Arnald that mercury (quicksilver) is the primary matter of metallic bodies and that sulfur and mercury, the constituents of gold, are found in the viscera of the earth. Hence, since art follows nature, one may learn to discern the causes of the transmutation of sulfur and mercury into gold by a close observation of the process in nature.

Besides the editions of Paracelsus’ works and the introduction to the paraphrase or edition of Arnald of Villanova’s Rosarium, Adam is credited with the composition of other tracts. His chief biographer, Melchior Adam, ascribed to him further tracts entitled De podagra (“On Gout”) and De herbis duodecim zodiaci signis dicatis (“On the Relation of Herbs to the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac”). Furthermore, the noted Swiss naturalist Conrad Gesner, who was Adam of Bodenstein’s contemporary, reported that he had learned about salmon from Adam.

On the whole, Adam of Bodenstein’s works contain little that is novel. Rather, as Lynn Thorndike pointed out, they demonstrate the strength of tradition in both medicine and alchemy in the sixteenth century. They do, however, exemplify the proclivity of the scholars of the time to carry on an active correspondence by means of which they exchanged views and the results of their scientific activities and discoveries.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Original Works. The following printed works are all at the British Museum in London and the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. Editions of Paracelsus are: Libri V de vita longa, cum dedicatoria epistola ([1562] Basel, 1566); Drei Bücher von Wunden und Schäden sampt allen iren Zufellen und derselben vollkommener Cur (Frankfurt, 1563); Spittal Büch (Mühlhausen, 1562; Frankfurt, 1566); Desserfarnesten Fürsten aller Artzeten Aureoli Theophrasti Paracelsi von ersten dreyen principijs... (Basel, 1563); Weyssagung Sibylle Tyburtine von... Lucas Gauricus... ausgelegt für das 1557 Jar, trans. by Adam of Bodenstein (Nuremberg [?], 1556[?]); Baderbüchlin... Mit fleyss Adams von Bodenstein publicirt (Mülhausen, 1562; Frankfurt, 1566, 1576); Libri quinque de causis, signis et curationibus morborum ex tartaro utilissimi Opera... (Basel, 1563); De gradibus, de compositionibus et dosibus receptorum ac naturalium...libri septem (Mylau, 1562; Basel, 1568); Das Buch Paragranum... Item, von Aderlassens, Schrepffens und Purgirens rechtem gebrauch (Frankfurt, 1562); Das Buch Paramirum (Mühlhausen, 1562); Praeparationum libri duo (Strasbourg, 1569); Metamophosis... der zerstörten... Artzeny restauratoris...(Basel, 1572); Opus chyrurgicum (Strasbourg, 1566; Basel, 1581); Operum latine redditorum tomus I (II), with preface by Adam of Bodenstein (Basel, 1575); Schreiben von tartarischen Kranckheiten, trans. into German and ed. by Adam of Bodenstein (n.p., 1563); Labyrintus und Irrgang der vermeinten Artzet (Basel, 1574); Libri duo; I. Defensiones septem adversus aemulos suos; II. De trataro sive morbis tartareis (Strasbourg, 1566, 1573); Drey Schreinben... von tribus principiis aller Generaten, Libro vexationum und thesauro alchimistarum, in B.G. Penot, Theophrastisch Vade mecum (Magdeburg, 1608); Pyrophilia vexationumque liber (Basel, 1568); Schreyben von den kranckeyten so die Vernunfft berauben als da sein S. Veyts Thantz hinfallender Siechtage; Melancholia und Unsinnigkeit (n.p., 1567); De tartaro libri septem...nunc vero auctiores et castigatiores denuo excusi (Basel, 1570); Schreiben von warmen oder Wildbäden (Basel, 1576); Zwey Bücher... von der Pestilentz und ihren Zufallen (Strasbourg, 1559); Herrlicher philosophischer Rhatschlag zu curirn Pestilentz Brustgeschwer, Carfunckl; Dardurch auch andere Gyfft... aussgetriben mögen werden (Basel, 1577).

Works on Arnald of Villanova and alchemy are: Isagoge in excellentissimi philosophi Arnaldi de Villanova Rosarium chymicum, paraphrastice manga diligentia tradita, Epistola operi praefixa ad amplissimos alchymian infirmantia et confirmantia adducuntur, quibus et eam artem esse certissimam demonstratur (Basel, 1559); also available in MS: British Museum Sloane 3737, 17th cent., ff. 96r-106r, “Ex Isagoge Adam å Bodenstein in Rosarium Arnaldi.”

The two tracts De podagra and De herbis duodecim zodiaci signis dicatis, noted by Melchior Adam (see below), have not been otherwise identified or located.

II. Secondary Literature. The principal modern account is Lynn Thorndike. History of Magic and Experimental Science, V (New York, 1959), 619, 636; VI, 267. Dr. Thorndike utilized for the biographical information Melchior Adam, Vitae medicorum Germanorum, 3rd ed. (Frankfurt, 1706), pt. 4, p. 104, the sole extended source of information on Adam of Bodenstein; also Conrad Gesner, Historia animalium (Frankfurt, 1604), p. 829, “lib, IV, qui est de piscium et aquatilium animalium natura.”

Pearl Kibre