Johann Agricola (Alchemist)

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Johann Agricola (1638)

Johann (es) Agricola (born March 21, 1590 in Neunburg vorm Wald ; † April 1, 1668 in Breslau ) was a German doctor , alchemist and saltwork specialist .

Life

Agricola, whose origins are still uncertain, was born in Neunburg vorm Wald in the Upper Palatinate and spent a good part of his youth as a traveling pupil in Poland and Lithuania , but he seems to have been a pupil at the renowned Quedlinburg high school under Philipp Leopoldi around 1606 be. In 1607 he enrolled at the University of Königsberg . From the years 1611 to 1614 he himself reports that he practiced mainly in Austria (with a center in Gmunden in the Salzkammergut ), among other things as assistant to the imperial court doctor Matthäus Judex. Long journeys took him to Upper Hungary , Switzerland , Croatia , Italy and finally from Venice via Greece , Rhodes and Syria to Alexandria in Egypt. Further trips to France, England and Scotland, which he mentions in his case histories, cannot yet be precisely timed.

In 1615 Agricola received his doctorate in medicine in Basel and then settled as city ​​doctor in Frankenhausen (1615) and Altenburg in Thuringia (1616) . In 1622 he was appointed supervisor of the Saxon-Altenburg saltworks in Sulza / Ilm , where, based on observations in the then technically leading Salzkammergut , he introduced technical improvements, especially the grading of the brine . He acquired a large fortune through profit shares, which he invested in several farms in Müncheroda and Weischütz an der Unstrut in 1627 . Driven from his estates in 1631 by the onset of the Thirty Years' War , Agricola first fled to the University of Jena before acquiring citizenship in Naumburg an der Saale in 1632 . Here he practiced as a doctor again until 1638 the war system drove him from there as well. Agricola found protection at the University of Leipzig , where his main work, the extensive Chymische Medicin , appeared.

Around 1642 there was a dispute between the pharmacist Georg Detharding and the Stettin Johann Hintze, who sold an Aurum Potabile made according to Agricola's instructions . Detharding was of the opinion that this procedure, like other processes described by Agricola, could not be implemented. The dispute was conducted in several tracts on both sides and only ended with Detharding's death. On Agricola's side, his long-time friend August Hauptmann took over .

In 1645 Agricola followed a call to Breslau , where he held the office of city ​​physician until his death . In Silesia he prepared reports on the possible yield of gold ore.

Following an incorrect entry in Jöchers Schehrten -Lexicon , Agricola's key biographical data are usually erroneously given as the years 1589–1643.

Works (selection)

literature

  • Johann Agricola, Chemical Medicin. A compendium of the preparation and application of alchemical remedies, edited after the first edition in Leipzig 1638/39, introduced and provided with a biographical sketch by Oliver Humberg, Elberfeld 2000.
  • Oliver Humberg, Dr. Johann Agricola (1590–1668), a Naumburg doctor and alchemist in the Thirty Years War, in: Saale-Unstrut-Jahrbuch 11 (2006), pages 36–48.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Michael Ulrich Brysch: August Hauptmann (1607–1674): On the life, work and effects of a Dresden medical alchemist. Springer 2016, ISBN 978-3-86226-108-6 , p. 72 ff. ( Limited preview in the Google book search)
  2. Johann Agricola: Necessary protective script and rescue of honor against the shameful and famous script dictated by the devil himself and pasquil which Georg Detharding selected. 1648.