Negotium Otiosum : Georg Ernst Stahl 1720 First Edition [ Leibniz ]
$900
In stock
Description
First Edition of Negotium Otiosum Consisting of A Debate Between Georg Ernst Stahl and Gottfried Wilhelm Liebniz First Published in 1720
Stahl, Georg Ernst. Negotium Otiosum seu Skiamachia, adversus positiones aliquas fundamentales, Theoriae verae medicae à viro quodam celeberrimo… Literis et Impensis Orphanotrophei. Halle. 1720. First Edition.
A record of the debate between Georg Ernst Stahl and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz published four years after Leibniz’s death in 1716.
Following the publication of Stahl’s True Medical Theory in 1708, Leibniz wrote to the famed chemist with a 15 page letter of disagreement. Stahl responded with a 100 page letter. Leibniz wrote back with an even shorter 13 page response. Stahl wrote but never sent his rebuttal, choosing instead to publish it here along with the rest of their correspondence under the title, Negotium Otiosum or “Idle Occupation”.
Though both men disagreed with Descartes treatment of chemistry, they could not agree on how best to study it due to their different views on matter. Stahl maintained that chemistry and medicine should be studied separately and that compounds could be reduced to elements while Leibniz argued for infinitely divisible matter.
11 copies found in OCLC as of September 2025.
223pp. Later marbled boards. Light wear to corners. Red text block. Gray endpapers. Small spot to title. Title and page 4 shaved at bottom edge. Pages toned. Occasional soiling. Small margin tear page 223. Very good.
If you liked this book, you might also enjoy this early edition of the Secrets of Alexis of Piedmont. You might also enjoy this copy of the First American Edition of The Secret Tradition of Alchemy by AE Waite.
