Catalogue Entry: ALCH00038

'The Regimen' (early 1680s).

Author: Isaac Newton

Metadata: Not yet dated, in English and Latin , c. 3,000 words, 7 pp. on 4 ff.

Source: Keynes Ms. 49, King's College, Cambridge, UK

[Normalized Text (at Chymistry of Isaac Newton)]

Custodial History

Bought at the Sotheby sale by Maggs Brothers for £9.10s. and sold to Keynes on 4 August 1936 for the sale price plus 20%.

Sotheby Lot

SL86

Contents

A series of seven 'aphorisms', in English, relating to the stages of transmutation, followed by supporting 'Annotations upon y^e foregoing Aphorisms', mostly in Latin but with some English and consisting mainly of notes from various authors. It seems likely that the 'aphorisms' are Newton's own summation of his alchemical reading: he notes, 'This Process I take to be y^e work of the best Authors, Hermes, Turba, Morien, Artephius, Abraham y^e Iew & Flammel, Scala, Ripley, Maier, the great Rosary, Charnock, Trevisan. Philaletha. Despagnet'.

Related Material

The seven 'aphorisms' are printed in Dobbs, 'Newton's Copy of "Secrets Reveal'd"', 158 and Westfall, Never at Rest, 357-8.