Belin, Dom Jean Albert (1610-1677)

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Belin, Dom Jean Albert (1610-1677)

A Benedictine born at Besancon, France, in 1610. His principal works, a treaty on talismans and a dissertation upon astral figures, were published at Paris in 1671 and again in 1709. He also published several texts on alchemy, Sympathetic Powder Justified in 1671 and Les aventures du Philosophe inconnu, en la recherche et en l'invention de la Pierre philosophale (Adventures of an unknown philosopher in the search for and the manufacture of the Philosophers' Stone) (Paris, 1664, 1674). This latter work is divided into four books and speaks very clearly of the manner in which the philosophers' stone is made. However, Belin ascribed the authorship to another hand, and some of the adventures appear symbolical rather than factual.