John Dastin

John Dastin ^[1] was an English alchemist of the fourteenth century. He is known for correspondence with Pope John XXII, in defence of alchemical practice, dated to 1320.

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Work attributed to Dastin was included in the 1625 Harmoniae imperscrutabilis Chymico-Philosophicae of Hermannus Condeesyanus,^[2] the 1629 Fasciculus Chemicus of Arthur Dee, and the 1652 Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum of Elias Ashmole. The Rosarius philosophorum is earlier known in manuscript.^[3]; it was printed 1702 by J. J. Manget in his Bibliotheca Chemica Curiosa.

References

• Entry in Concise Dictionary of National Biography

Notes

1. ^ Also Dastine, Dastyn, Daustin, Johannes Dastinus. Also given in the forms Joannes Dacius, and (according to Lynn Thorndike) Johannes de Vasconia.
2. ^ The Visio super artem Alchemicam.
3. ^ For example from 1525,[1]; other 16th century sources, [2]. It is also known as the Desiderabile Desiderium, from the opening words.