Fifth edition of a dictionary of medical herbs compiled by the French chemist Nicolas Lemery (1645-1715). Nicolas Lemery (1645-1715), was a French chemist, one of the first to develop theories on acid-base chemistry. At the beginning of his career he lectured on chemistry in Montpellier. He next established a pharmacy in Paris, still continuing his lectures. In 1675 he published the first version of his most successful work, his Course of Chemistry. He lived to see 13 editions and for a century it maintained its reputation as a standard work which was also translated in various languages. He developed especially his theories of the reaction between acids and alkalis. Being a Calvinist, he was obliged to retire to England in 1683. When the Edit of Nantes was abrogated, however, he returned to France, and turning Catholic in 1686, he was able to reopen his shop and resume his lectures. In 1697 he published the first edition of his Pharmacopée universelle and his more or less complementary Traité des drogues simples followed in 1698. These two books were both republished and translated many times. The present Traité des drogues simples was first published by Laurent dHoury and reprinted in 1699, 1723, 1732 (4th edition) by dHoury. There are also reprints in Amsterdam (1706, 1716) and Rotterdam (1727); our copy is probably the 5th edition published by the DHoury firm.
Lemery became associate chemist at the Royal Academy of Sciences in 1699, and full member in 1700, which resulted in the publication of several memoirs in the Academys journal and a monograph on antimony entitled Traité de lantimoine (1707). "Lemery's chief contributions to pharmacy were his two complementary works, the Pharmacopée universelle and Drogues simples. These are alphabetically arranged lists of composites and simples respectively giving the sources, virtues, doses, and therapeutic action of the various medicaments. They represent a comprehensive dictionary of pharmaceuticals" (DSB). The work opens with an eulogy, a preface and an extensive list of authors. The first edition was published in 1698.
Binding slightly rubbed and only some occassional spots, otherwise in good condition. DSB VIII, pp. 172-175; Wellcome III, p. 488.