Michael Toxites, born Johann Michael Schütz (19 July 1514,

Sterzing Sterzing (; ) 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. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy"). Hi ...

South Tyrol South Tyrol ( , ; ; ), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, is an autonomous administrative division, autonomous provinces of Italy, province in northern Italy. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomo ...

Sterzing has been a part of Italy since the

Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919) The Treaty of 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 Trianon with Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946 ...

and is now known as Vipiteno. – 1581,

Haguenau Haguenau (; or ; ; historical ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Bas-Rhin Département in France, department of France, of which it is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture. It is second in size in the Bas-Rhin only to Strasbourg ...

, Alsace) was a doctor,

alchemist Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...

and poet of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

Biography

Toxites began his studies in Dillingen and later completed his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

Tübingen Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, 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 (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...

. In 1535, he continued his studies at the

University of Pavia The University of Pavia (, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; ) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest un ...

and earned a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) 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. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in 1542 at

Wittenberg Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is the fourth-largest town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. It is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of the reunified German ...

, 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, an intellectual leader of the L ...

.Urs Leo Gantenbein, "Toxites, Michael", i
''Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse''
/ref> From 1537 he was a Latin teacher in Bad Urach in

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, 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 i ...

. He poetic talent was such that he was named poet laureate by

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain (as Charles I) from 1516 to 1556, and Lord of the Netherlands as titular Duke of Burgundy (as Charles II) ...

in 1544. When

Wilhelm Xylander Wilhelm Xylander (born Wilhelm Holtzman, graecized to Xylander; 26 December 153210 February 1576) was a German classical scholar and humanist. He served as rector of Heidelberg University in 1564. Biography Born at Augsburg, he studied at Tü ...

published the first

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

version of

Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ( ; ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors ...

Meditations ''Meditations'' () is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from 161–180 AD, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy. Composition Marcus Aurelius wrote the 12 books of the ''Meditations'' i ...

, Toxites is credited with having provided the

codex The codex (: codices ) was the historical ancestor format of the modern book. Technically, the vast majority of modern books use the codex format of a stack of pages bound at one edge, along the side of the text. But the term ''codex'' is now r ...

containing the original for the work. Toxites next found himself as head of school in

Brugg Brugg (sometimes written as Brugg AG in order to distinguish it from other ''Brugg''s) is a Switzerland, Swiss Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality and a List of towns in Switzerland, town in the canton of Aargau and is the seat of the Bru ...

in the

Swiss canton The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the Federated state, member states of the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the form of the first three confederate allies used to be referred to as the . Two important ...

, working there from 1549 to 1551. Between 1551 and 1556, he studied medicine at

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

. He next served various as a professor of

rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...

and

poetics Poetics is the study or theory of poetry, specifically the study or theory of device, structure, form, type, and effect with regards to poetry, though usage of the term can also refer to literature broadly. Poetics is distinguished from hermeneu ...

at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

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; it has chemical symbol, symbol Sb () and atomic number 51. A lustrous grey metal or metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite (). 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 composite substance, including gold (then not considered an element), without altering or destroying its fundamental compone ...

as ''du mercure préparé pour le foie'', by approximating a ''mysterium mercurii'' presented by

Paracelsus Paracelsus (; ; 1493 – 24 September 1541), born Theophrastus von Hohenheim (full name Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim), was a Swiss physician, alchemist, lay theologian, and philosopher of the German Renaissance. H ...

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 Gerhard Dorn (c. 1530 – 1584) was a philosopher, translator, alchemist, physician and bibliophile. Biography The details of Gerhard Dorn's early life, along with those of many other 16th century personalities, are lost to history. It is k ...

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

.
''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.

References

Notes

Sources

Theatrum Paracelsicum
Prefaces and Dedications written by Michael Toxites

Bibliography