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Hermippus Redivivus:
or, the Sage's Triumph over Old Age and the Grave. Wherein, a Method is Laid down for Prolonging the Life and
Vigor of Man.
Including, a Commentary upon an
Ancient Inscription, in which this great Secret is revealed; supported by numerous Authorities. The Whole Interspersed With a great Variety of remarkable, and well attested Relations. Author:Cohausen, Johann HeinrichPublisher:London: for J. Nourse, 1749.
The Second Edition, carefully corrected and much enlarged. Octavo, contemporary calf, marbled endpapers. 248 pp., complete. Rebacked sometime in late 18th or early 19th century Some old wear to the binding. Old bookplate roughly removed from front paste-down; notes in pencil (and a small note in pen) on front blank, notes in pencil on rear blanks. Very good copy.
Translated into English by Dr. John Campbell, this is perhaps the most famous work by Cohausen, a physician and "medical jester" to the Bishop of Muenster. In this book ,
Cohausena advocates lying with and inhaling the breath of young women more specifically virgins, to rejuvenate oneself and fend against the ageing process
Described by Samuel Johnson as 'very entertaining as an account of the hermetic philosophy and as furnishing a curious history of the extravagancies of the human mind'.
In Disraeli's "Curiosities of Literature", it states "But the most singular blunder was produced by the ingenious 'Hermippus Redivivus' of Dr. Campbell, a curious banter on the hermetic philosophy and the universal medicine; but the grave irony is so closely kept up. That it deceived for a length of time the most learned. His notions of the art of prolonging life, by inhaling the breath of young women was eagerly credited. A Physician who himself had composed a treatise on health was so influenced by it, that he actually took lodgings at a female boarding school, that he might never be without a constant supply of the breath of young ladies.