Transcription project on an alchemical manuscript completed

As part of a project sponsored by members of the Friends of the Francke Foundations, an extensive handwritten collection of recipes dating from 1712 has been fully transcribed by Dr Claudia Brandt and Claudia Weiß. The manuscript contains a total of around 180 alchemical recipes by Samuel Richter, a theorist and practitioner of great significance to the history of alchemy in the 18th century. In addition to medicinal recipes and instructions for transforming base metals into precious ones, the collection also contains some bizarre prescriptions that amaze modern readers. For instance, under the heading ‘Making teeth fall out without pain’, Richter recommends extracting an oil from green tree frogs and proceeding as follows: “Apply this oil to the teeth, and they will fall out; but you must take care that it does not come into contact with a healthy tooth, otherwise those too would come loose.”

The digitised version and the accompanying transcription, as well as further information on the source, can be found in the Digital Collections of the Francke Foundations: https://digital.francke-halle.de/fsha/1277471.