Catalogue Entry: ALCH00009

Miscellaneous extracts from and notes on various alchemical authors, in English.

Author: Isaac Newton

Metadata: Not yet dated, 8 pp.

Source: Keynes Ms. 20, King's College, Cambridge, UK

[Normalized Text (at Chymistry of Isaac Newton)]

Custodial History

Bought at the Sotheby sale by Francis Edwards for £12 and sold to Keynes on 18 August 1936 for £16.

Sotheby Lot

SL13

Contents

'The standing of y^e glass for y^e time of Putrefaction & Congelation of y^e medecine', in verse, 14 lines; 'The hunting of y^e Green Lyon' (an extract), in verse, c. 180 lines; 'Notes upon y^e hunting of y^e green Lyon', c. 500 words.

Related Material

Both verses are copied from Elias Ashmole's Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum (1652: H93), 421-2 and 278-9 respectively, though the notes on the 'Green Lyon', comprising elucidatory cross-references to other alchemical authors, would seem to be Newton's own. (Ashmole's edition does include notes on the work as an appendix, but they are completely different from those in this manuscript.)