ORATIO ADITIALIS DE CHEMIAE HODIERNAE "An Address on Modern Chemistry" (1784)

ORATIO ADITIALIS DE CHEMIAE HODIERNAE PRETIO RITE CONSTITUENDO - "An Address on Modern Chemistry"

53pp. Modern hardcover binding. Text in Latin.

The author, Floris Jacobus Voltelen (1753-1795) was born in the Swartland, Cape of Good Hope, to Reverend Christiaan Benjamin Voltelen (1723-1758) and Gertrui Susanna Meyboom (1734-?). He spent his childhood in Cape Town and at the age of twelve left his native country in order to study Latin, theology, and finally medicine, in the Netherlands. He became a doctor of medicine in 1777, and in 1784 became a professor at the Leiden School of Medicine where this lecture on modern chemistry Oratio Aditialis de Chemiae Hodiernae pretio rite constituendo was his inaugural address. In 1790 Voltelen became the Rector of the school. Voltelen closely followed the latest developments and discoveries in chemistry and in his lectures endorsed the work of that ill-fated French scientist and father of modern chemistry Antoine de Lavoisier.

Voltelen's mother, Gertrui Susanna Meyboom (or Meijboom), was a niece by marriage of Rudolph Siegfried Allemann, Captain of the Military Forces and Commander of the Castle at the Cape of Good Hope. The account of her aunt, Alberta Meijboom, and Rudolph Allemann's courtship is well known, and can be found in his biography, written by O. F. Mentzel and published in 1784. The story of Alleman, starting life as a penniless and desperate young German volunteer in service of the Dutch East India Co., and his eventual rise to the highest military position in the Colony, is riveting. The English edition, published by the Van Riebeeck Society in 1919, was their first best seller.

Interestingly, the publication date of Voltelen's address coincides with that of his famous great-uncle's biography.