B J Teeter Dobbs (2 results)

Paperback octavo, good condition (reading copy), top edge foxed (other edges slightly), bottom edge rubbed, some edgewear, owner's written name title page. 300 pp. The famous English scientist Isaac Newton left at his death a huge collection of papers (a total of 650,000 words) on alchemy, mostly in his own handwriting. B. J. T. Dobbs exhaustively chronicles the mystic climate of thw Restoration age. She tracks the final 30 years of Newton's life spent in diligent but fruitless quest for the Philosopher's Stone, that is, the extraction of 'philosophical mercury' that was the alleged basis of all metals. The importance of the influence of alchemy on Newton's groundbreaking scientific experiments on optics and the laws of motion has been debated ever since, but was more significant than previously ubderstood.

Condition: Buono (Good).