Pierre-Jean Fabre (1588- 9 January 1658) was a French doctor and

alchemist Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscience, protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in Chinese alchemy, C ...

. Born in

Castelnaudary Castelnaudary (; oc, Castèlnòu d'Arri) is a commune in the Aude department in the Occitanie region of southern France. It is located in the former province of the Lauragais and famous for cassoulet of which it claims to be the world capital ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 1588, he studied medicine in

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

. He became a practitioner of the iatrochemical medicine of

Paracelsus Paracelsus (; ; 1493 – 24 September 1541), born Theophrastus von Hohenheim (full name Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim), was a Swiss physician, alchemist, lay theologian, and philosopher of the German Renaissance. He w ...

. Beginning in 1610 he practiced medicine in Castelnaudary. He became famous as a specialist in the

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...

which was particularly severe in central Europe during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

. Fabre prescribed chemical medications for the treatment of the plague and was at one time the private physician of King

Louis XIII of France Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...

. Fabre was a practising alchemist, and claimed to have succeeded in the alchemical transmutation of

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

into

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

on 22 July 1627. He was strongly attracted to mystical aspects of chemistry, drawing parallels between the chemical operations of alchemy and the sacraments of the Christian church, particularly in his ''Alchymista Christianus'' (1632). Fabre died in Castelnaudary on 9 January 1658.

Alchymista Christianus

"He saw valid correspondences between the sacraments and chemical operations: calcination symbolised penitence; fire and water corresponded to baptism; and the Philosopher's Stone could be compared to nothing less than the Eucharist. Assuming this, Fabre thought that true alchemists were like priests; the spirit of mercury was like the angels; the earth was like the Virgin Mary; and the life-giving properties of salt gave it a valid connection to Christ. These correspondences could be visualised because they were sculpted on the great churches of France, whose artist-architects had presented their esoteric knowledge to the viewer." - A.G. Debus, The Chemical Challenge to Medical and Scientific Tradition in Early Modern France, p75.

Bibliography

* ''Palladium Spagyricum'', Toulouse, Bosc, 1624, 276 p. * ''Chirurgica spagyrica'', Toulouse, Bosc, 1626, 176 p. Traduction française manuscrite de Pierre Mallet, Chartres, 1649. * ''Insignes curationes variorum morborum quos medicamentis chymicis jucundissima methodo curavit'', Toulouse, Bosc, 1627. * ''Myrothecium spagyricum'', Toulouse, Bosc, 1628, 448 p. * ''Traité de la peste selon la doctrine des médecins spagyriques'', Toulouse, 1629, Castres, 1653. *
Alchymista christianus
', Toulouse, Bosc, 1632. Trad. (XVIII° s.) : ''L'alchimiste chrétien'' (édition de Frank Greiner), Paris et Milan, Archè, 2001, 732 p. Paraphrase alchimique de la ''Theologia naturalis'' de

Raymond Sebond Raymond of Sabunde (born Ramon Sibiuda; also known as Sabiende, Sabond, Sabonde, Sebon, Sebond, Sebonde, or Sebeyde; c. 1385Gonzalo Díaz Díaz, ''Hombres y documentos de la filosofía española: S-Z'': Vol. VII. Consejo Superior De Investigacione ...

. Texte latin 1632, 32-236-4. * ''Hercules pio-chymicus'', Toulouse, Bosc, 1634. *
L'Abrégé des secrets chymiques, où l'on voit la nature des animaux, végétaux et minéraux entièrement découverts, avec les vertus et propriétés des principes qui composent et conservent leur être ; et un traité de la médecine générale
', Paris, Pierre Billaine, 1636. Gutenberg Reprints, 1990. * ''Hydrographum spagyricum'', Toulouse, Bosc, 1639, 260 p. * ''Propugnaculum alchymiae adversus quosdam misochymicos...'', Toulouse, Bosc, 1645, 128 p. Traduction française manuscrite en 1790 par le chevalier Dernelon : ''Rempart de l'alchimie''. * ''Traduction et notes du Cursus triomphalis Antimonii de Basile Valentin'', Toulouse, Bosc, 1646. * ''Panchymicus, seu Anatomia totius Universi Opus'', Toulouse, Bosc, 1646. * ''Sapientia Universalis quatuor libris comprehensa. Videlicet 1. Quid sit sapientia, & de modiis ad eam perveniendi, 2. De cognitione hominis, 3. De medentis morbis hominum, 4. De Meliorandis metallis'', Toulouse, Bosc, 1654. * ''Remèdes curatifs et préservatifs de la peste donnez au public en 1652 par Pierre-Jean Fabre'', Réimprimé en 1720 à Toulouse, 16 p. * ''Manuscriptum ad Serenissimum Fridericum...res alchymicorum explanans'', 1653, édité par G. Clauder dans les ''Miscellanea Curiosa'' de l'Académie impériale léopoldine de Nuremberg, 1690 ; in J. J. Manget, ''

Bibliotheca Chemica Curiosa (Latin for “Curious Chemical Library”) is a collection of alchemical texts first published in Latin, in Geneva, 1702 by Chouet, edited by Jean-Jacques Manget. It is a two-volume work, each has more than 900 pages and contains 143 texts in ...

'', 1702. * ''Opera reliqua volumine hoc posteriore comprehensa'', Francfort, Beyer, 1652 ; Francfort, Beyer, 1656.

Resources

* Greiner, Frank, Introduction à ''L'Alchimiste chrétien'' (''Alchymista christianus''), Paris, S.É.H.A. et Milan, ARCHÈ, 2001, p. VII-CXVII. * Greiner, Frank,
Pierre-Jean Fabre
, in ''Dictionnaire de réseaux culturels toulousains en Europe entre 1480 et 1780'', ''Bibliotheca Tholosana'' * Joly, Bernard, "La réception de la pensée de Van Helmont dans l'œuvre de Pierre-Jean Fabre", in Z.R.W.M. von Martels (éd.), ''Alchemy Revisited'', Brill, Leiden, 1990, pp. 206-214. *Joly, Bernard, ''Rationalité de l'alchimie au XVIIe siècle'', Vrin, 1992. *Joly, Bernard, "Pierre-Jean Fabre", apud ''

The dictionary of seventeenth-century french philosophers The ''Dictionary of Seventeenth-Century French Philosophers'' is a dictionary of philosophical writers in France between 1601 and 1700, edited by Luc Foisneau. An augmented and revised French edition has been published in 2015. Content The ''D ...

'', Thoemmes Press, 2004. *Nelly, René, "Un médecin alchimiste : Pierre-Jean Fabre", ''La Tour Saint-Jacques'', n° 16, Paris, 1958. *Ricalens, Henry, "Pierre-Jean Fabre, médecin et alchimiste de Castelnaudary (1588-1658) et son traité de la peste selon la méthode des médecins spagyristes", ''Bulletin de la société d'études scientifiques de l'Aude'', 2003, vol. CIII, p. 113-120. *Secret, François, "Pierre-Jean Fabre, médecin spagirique et alchimiste", ''Bibliothèque d'humanisme et Renaissance'', Genève, t. XXXV, 1973.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fabre, Pierre-Jean French medical writers 1588 births 1658 deaths 17th-century French physicians French alchemists 17th-century alchemists