LICETI, Fortunio.
(1577 – 1657)
Liceti was first a professor of logic and then aristotelian physics at the University of Pisa. In 1609 he was appointed professor extraordinary and in 1622 professor ordinary of philosophy at the University of Padua. He accepted in 1637 a position at Bologna, then in 1645 he returned to Padua as professor of medicine.
Biographical references: ABI: I 566, 367-429; II 327, 127. • Jöcher, Gelehrten-Lexikon, 1750-51. • Mazzetti, Repertorio di Tutti i Professori, 1848. • Nouvelle Biographie Générale (Hoefer). • Poggendorff: 1, cols. 1451-2. • WBI.
1. Latin, 1640.
Litheosphorvs, | Sive | De Lapide Bononiensi | Lucem in se conceptam ab ambiente claro | mox in tenebris mire conseruante | Liber | Fortvnii Liceti | Genvensis | Pridem in Pisano, nuper in Patauino, nunc in Bononiense | Archigymnasio Philosophi Eminentis | Eminentiss.ac Reuerendiss. D.D. | Aloysio Cardinali | Capponio | Ravennæ Archiepiscopo | Dicatvs. | [ornament] | Vtini, Ex Typographia Nicolai Schiratti. MDCXL. | Annventibvs Svperioribvs.
4°: †4 A-Mm4; 142l.; [8], 280 p., one plate (portrait). Ornamental initials.
Rare. A work on the phosphorescent stone of Bologna. Kopp says that the first chemical preparation known to show phosphorescence was a paste made from a barite found near Bologna, and that it was described in this book. This is the most comprehensive 17th century work on the subject, and at the same time it is the least scientific approach. In the 55 chapters there is a detailed account of the various names by which the Bolognian stone was known, its discovery, the places where it occurred, and an attempt at explanation of its luminescence.
Bibliographical references: Duveen, Bibliotheca Alchemica et Chemica, 1965: p. 358. • Gatterer, Mineralogischen Literatur, 1798-9: 2, 13. • Harvey, History of Luminescence, 1957: p. 311-2. • Hoover Collection: no. 537. • Kopp, Geschichte der Chemie, 1843-7: 3, p. 327. • LKG: XVI 111. • NUC [no copy listed].
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