Michael Toxites, born Johann Michael Schütz (19 July 1514,
Sterzing
Sterzing (; it, Vipiteno ) is a comune in South Tyrol in northern Italy. It is the main town of the southern Wipptal, and the Eisack River flows through the medieval town.
History
Origin
The town traces its roots to 14 B.C., when Nero Claudius ...
,
South Tyrol
it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol
, settlement_type = Autonomous area, Autonomous Provinces of Italy, province
, image_skyline = ...
[Sterzing has been a part of Italy since the ]Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)
The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (french: Traité de Saint-Germain-en-Laye) was signed on 10 September 1919 by the victorious Allies of World War I on the one hand and by the Republic of German-Austria on the other. Like the Treaty of Tria ...
and is now known as Vipiteno. – 1581,
Haguenau, Alsace) was a doctor,
alchemist and poet of the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...
.
Biography
Toxites began his studies in
Dillingen and later completed his
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
in
Tübingen
Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in three ...
. In 1535, he continued his studies at the
University of Pavia
The University of Pavia ( it, Università degli Studi di Pavia, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; la, Alma Ticinensis Universitas) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one ...
and earned a
Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...
in 1542 at
Wittenberg
Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the River Elbe, north o ...
, where he studied under
Philip Melanchthon
Philip Melanchthon. (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lu ...
.
[Urs Leo Gantenbein, "Toxites, Michael", i]
''Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse''
/ref> From 1537 he was a Latin teacher in Bad Urach
Bad Urach () is a town in the district of Reutlingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 14 km east of Reutlingen, at the foot of the Swabian ''Alb'' (or Swabian Alps in English), and is known for its spa and therapeutic bath.
N ...
in Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
. He poetic talent was such that he was named poet laureate
A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...
by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in 1544.
When Wilhelm Xylander published the first Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
version of Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good ...
's Meditations
''Meditations'' () is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from AD 161 to 180, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy.
Marcus Aurelius wrote the 12 books of the ''Meditations'' in Koine ...
, Toxites is credited with having provided the codex containing the original for the work.Brugg
, neighboring_municipalities = Gebenstorf, Habsburg, Hausen, Holderbank, Lupfig, Riniken, Rüfenach, Schinznach, Untersiggenthal, Villigen, Villnachern, Veltheim, Windisch
, twintowns = Rottweil (Germany)
, website ...
in the Swiss canton
The 26 cantons of Switzerland (german: Kanton; french: canton ; it, cantone; Sursilvan and Surmiran: ; Vallader and Puter: ; Sutsilvan: ; Rumantsch Grischun: ) are the member states of the Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Co ...
, working there from 1549 to 1551.University of Tübingen
The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-W ...
until 1560. That same year he returned to Strasbourg, earning his doctorate in medicine in 1562. In 1564, Toxites established a laboratory in Strasbourg, where he carried out his research and experiments on antimony
Antimony is a chemical element with the symbol Sb (from la, stibium) and atomic number 51. A lustrous gray metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite (Sb2S3). Antimony compounds have been known since ancient t ...
.
In 1574, he moved to Haguenau, where he died seven years later in 1581.[Ménard and Desenne, eds.]
''Dictionnaire historique, critique et bibliographique contenant les vies des hommes illustres, célèbres ou fameux des tous les pays et de tous les siècles, suivi d'un dictionnaire abrégé des mythologies et d'un tableau chronologique''
vol. 26 (1823): 140.
In 1574, Toxites was the first to define the alkahest
In Renaissance alchemy, alkahest was the theorized "universal solvent". It was supposed to be capable of dissolving any other substance, including gold, without altering or destroying its fundamental components.
Among its philosophical and sp ...
as ''du mercure préparé pour le foie'', by approximating a ''mysterium mercurii'' presented by Paracelsus as a medicine for the liver. This definition was picked up by the French Paracelsian Roch Le Baillif in 1578 and by the Belgian Gerhard Dorn in 1583. It was repeated in the dictionary which appears among the appendices of ''Paracelsi opera omnia'' (1658), the Latin edition of the works of Paracelsus.
Works
Toxites edited a number of medical and alchemical works, 23 of which were the writing of Paracelsus.
''Spongia Stibii adv. Lucae Stenglini Med. D. et Physici august. aspergines''
1567.
* ed., ''Introductio in Divinam Chemicae Artem, integra magistri Boni Lombardi Ferrariensis physici''. Basel: Pietro Perna, 1572. An edition of the ''Pretiosa margarita novella'' of Petrus Bonus.
''Onomastica duo''
1574.
''Paragraphorum Philippi Theophrasti Paracelsi''
1575.
See also
*Stibnite
Stibnite, sometimes called antimonite, is a sulfide mineral with the formula Sb2 S3. This soft grey material crystallizes in an orthorhombic space group. It is the most important source for the metalloid antimony. The name is derived from the ...
*Heinrich Bullinger
Heinrich Bullinger (18 July 1504 – 17 September 1575) was a Swiss Reformer and theologian, the successor of Huldrych Zwingli as head of the Church of Zürich and a pastor at the Grossmünster. One of the most important leaders of the Swiss R ...
*Thomas Platter
Thomas Platter the Elder (; ; 10 February 1499, in Grächen, Valais – 26 January 1582, in Basel) was a Swiss humanist scholar and writer.
Biography
Thomas Platter (the Elder) was a master of several languages, knowing Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, ...
References
Notes
Bibliography
*Soukup, Rudolf Werner, and Helmut Mayer. ''Alchemistisches Gold, Paracelsistische Pharmaka: Laboratoriumstechnik im 16. Jahrhundert''. Wien, 1997.
*Soukup, Rudolf Werner. ''Chemie in Österreich: von den Anfängen bis zum Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts''. Wien, 2007.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toxites, Michael
16th-century alchemists
16th-century Latin-language writers
1581 deaths
1514 births
People from Sterzing