Call Number:

Ms. Codex 2204

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

1 volume

Language:

French

Preferred Citation:

French recipe book, circa 1800, Ms. Codex 2204, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

circa 1800

Form:

Notebooks and Codices (bound manuscripts)

Abstract:

This volume contains 181 recipes related to health, utility, and pleasure or beauty written in French and compiled by an unknown creator, possibly in France around 1800.

This volume contains methods and recipes for numerous chemical and alchemical products and processes, including Diana's tree, palingenesis, and invisible ink.

Diana's tree, also known as Philosopher's tree is a process popular amongst alchemists that involved creating a "tree" from a small amount of a precious metal and a more considerable amount of another metal, in this case silver and mercury. It was considered a precursor to the philosopher's stone, an elusive substance revered by alchemists for its supposed ability to turn basic metals into precious metals.

Palingenesis was a subject of interest to 17th and 18th century chemists and alchemists that refers to the resuscitation of plants from their ashes.

Invisible ink, also known as sympathetic ink, is invisible upon application and later made visible by another means, such as the application of heat.

Antoine Baumé (1728-1804), who is referenced in this volume, was a French chemist known for improving several technical processes in chemistry. He became a member of the Academy of Sciences in 1772 and the Institut de France in 1796.

Sources:

Conniff, Richard. "Alchemy May Not Have Been the Pseudoscience We All Thought It Was." Smithsonian Magazine, 1 Feb. 2014, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/alchemy-may-not-been-pseudoscience-we-thought-it-was-180949430/.

Debus, Allen G. "A Further Note on Palingenesis: The Account of Ebenezer Sibly in the Illustration of Astrology (1792)." Isis, vol. 64, no. 2, 1973, pp. 226–30. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/229599. Accessed 16 July 2024.

Macrakis, Kristie. "The hidden past of invisible ink: often synonymous with international espionage, secret writing also had a long-forgotten heyday in stage magic and science demonstrations." American Scientist, vol. 102, no. 3, 2014, p. 198, https://doi.org/10.1511/2014.108.198.

"Philosopher's Stone." Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., www.britannica.com/topic/philosophers-stone. Accessed 16 July 2024.

This volume contains 181 recipes related to health, utility, and pleasure, charm or ornament written in French and compiled by an unknown creator in the 18th or early 19th century, likely in France.

It is bound in leather with pockets inside the front and back covers. There are a significant number of blank pages (p. 6-76, 110-156, 257-284).

The first section, "Secrets et recettes qui ont pour l'objet la Santé," contains five recipes related to health. Examples of recipes in this section include recettes pour faire la gelée de cerfeuil pour les maux de poitrine (p. 1), remède contre la dissinterie (p. 4), and opiat pour la fièvre (p. 5).

The second section, "secrets et recettes qui ont pour l'objet l'utilité," contains 41 recipes for household products. Examples of recipes in this section include pour blancher le fer (p. 83), manière d'argenter le cuivre (p. 85), composition d'une encre angloise qui ne gèle point (p. 89), cerat de Saturne (p. 91), maladie épidémique des chiens (p. 93), secret pour faire revenir plusieurs couleurs tells que lilas, rouge, cramoisy, brun, violet, more-doré (p. 97), poudre de citron pour preserver les armoires des insects (p. 102), tabac turc (p. 105), and preparation pour les bijoux d'or (p. 108).

The third section, "secrets et recettes qui ont pour objet l'agrément" contains 135 recipes related to pleasure, charm, and ornament. There are a significant number of recipes for fireworks and ornamental pyrotechnics and for coloring and varnishing surfaces. There are also recipes related to the care for exotic and pet birds. Examples of recipes in this section include manière de composer et de fabriquer les pastilles d'artifice à feu changeant (p. 159), salpêtre (p. 163), composition pour les chandelles romaines (p. 177), composition de fusée volante (p. 178), secret pour mouler toutes sortes de fruits (p. 182), arbre de Diane (p. 186), secret de la palingénesie ou resurrection de la fleur (p. 188), encre de sympathie (p. 191), amalgame pour étamer en dedans un globe de cristal (p. 192), manière de composer le mastic propre à cimenter et monter les globes pour l'éléctricité (p. 195), recette pour faire la pâte pour nourrir les rossignols (p. 205), remède pour guérir diverses maladies auxquelles les parroquets sont sujets (p. 207), vernis pour le métal d'oré (p. 230), bol d'Armenie (p. 244-247), and manière de brunir l'or fin et l'argent fin ou faux lorsqu'il est moulu comme du bronze (p. 253).