Guglielmo Gratarolo

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Guglielmo Grataroli Guglielmo Grataroli.jpg
Guglielmo Grataroli

Guglielmo Gratarolo or Grataroli or Guilelmus Gratarolus (16 May 1516, Bergamo - 16 April 1568, Basel) was an Italian doctor and alchemist.

Contents

Biography

Portrait of Grataroli from a biography by G. Gallizioli, 1788 Gallizioli - Della vita degli studi e degli scritti di Gulielmo Grataroli filosofo e medico, 1788 - 1492109.jpg
Portrait of Grataroli from a biography by G. Gallizioli, 1788

Gratorolo studied in Padua and Venice.

A Calvinist, Gratarolo sought refuge in Graubünden, Strasbourg, and finally settled in Basel in 1552. There, he taught medicine and edited a number works, particularly alchemical ones, notable among them the 1561 collection Verae alchemiae artisque metallicae published by the printer Henricus Petrus, and reprinted in 1572.

Verae alchemiae artisque metallica

Verae alchemiae artisque metallica relied heavily on the earlier printed alchemical collection De Alchemia and was in turn heavily relied upon for the Theatrum Chemicum . Gratorolo omitted only the Tabula Smaragdina and Ortulanus' commentary on it from volume 1; these had been published separately a year earlier in 1560, although falsely attributed to Johannes de Garlandia. Above all, Gratorolo wanted to publish the works of Pseudo-Lull and Pseudo-Geber. The contents of the 1561 edition are as follows:. [1]

Volume 1:

Volume 2:

Works

Bibliography

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References

  1. As given in John Ferguson, Bibliotheca Chemica, vol. 1 (1906), 341.
  2. Perhaps a use of the philosopher's stone against the plague. Chiara Crisciani and Micheala Pereira, "Black Death and Golden Remedies. Some Remarks on Alchemy and the Plague," in A. Paravicini Bagliani, F. Santi, eds. The Regulation of Evil. Social and Cultural Attitudes to Epidemics in the Late Middle Ages (Florence: Sismel - Edizioni del Galluzzo, 1998), 7-39.