MARGGRAF, ANDREAS SIGISMUND. - EXAMINING THE "PHILOSOPHER'S STONE"

Examen des Parties qui constituent cette Espece de Pierres, qui, après avoir été calcinées par les moyen ds Charbons, acquierent la Propritté de devenir lumineuses, quand on les expose à la Lumiere; avec L'Exposé de la Composition artificielle des Pierres de cette Sorte. Traduit du Latin.

(Berlin, Haude et Spener, 1752). 4to. No wrappers, as issued in "Memoires de L'Academie Royale des Sciences et Belles Lettres" tome VI (1750), pp.144-162.

First printing of Marggraf's importent investigation of the so-called "Bologna-Stone" in which he found that its base is different from lime, it is heavier and more soluble. In this memoir he anticipated Lavoisier’s conclusions by identifying the constituents of gypsum as water,lime, and vitriolic acid.

Bologna stone, any of the dense, silvery white stones first found (1603) on Mount Paderno, near Bologna, by an Italian cobbler-alchemist, Vicenzo Cascariolo, who synthesized from them a luminescent material that glowed at night after being exposed by day to the Sun. Originally thought to be the philosopher’s stone that was believed capable of transmuting base metals into gold, Bologna stone ultimately was shown to be the mineral barite, barium sulfate.

Order-nr.: 44743