Pierre-Jean Fabre

"He saw valid correspondences between the sacraments and chemical operations: calcination symbolised penitence; fire and water corresponded to baptism; and the Philosopher's Stone could be compared to nothing less than the Eucharist. Assuming this, Fabre thought that true alchemists were like priests; the spirit of mercury was like the angels; the earth was like the Virgin Mary; and the life-giving properties of salt gave it a valid connection to Christ. These correspondences could be visualised because they were sculpted on the great churches of France, whose artist-architects had presented their esoteric knowledge to the viewer." - ==Bibliography==

• Greiner, Frank, Introduction à ''L'Alchimiste chrétien (Alchymista christianus''), Paris, S.É.H.A. et Milan, ARCHÈ, 2001, p. VII-CXVII. • Greiner, Frank, "Pierre-Jean Fabre", in Dictionnaire de réseaux culturels toulousains en Europe entre 1480 et 1780, Bibliotheca Tholosana • Joly, Bernard, "La réception de la pensée de Van Helmont dans l'œuvre de Pierre-Jean Fabre", in Z.R.W.M. von Martels (éd.), Alchemy Revisited, Brill, Leiden, 1990, pp. 206–214. • Joly, Bernard, ''Rationalité de l'alchimie au XVIIe siècle'', Vrin, 1992. • Joly, Bernard, "Pierre-Jean Fabre", apud The dictionary of seventeenth-century french philosophers, Thoemmes Press, 2004. • Nelly, René, "Un médecin alchimiste : Pierre-Jean Fabre", La Tour Saint-Jacques, n° 16, Paris, 1958. • Ricalens, Henry, "Pierre-Jean Fabre, médecin et alchimiste de Castelnaudary (1588-1658) et son traité de la peste selon la méthode des médecins spagyristes", ''Bulletin de la société d'études scientifiques de l'Aude'', 2003, vol. CIII, p. 113-120. • Secret, François, "Pierre-Jean Fabre, médecin spagirique et alchimiste", ''Bibliothèque d'humanisme et Renaissance'', Genève, t. XXXV, 1973. ==References==