The Chymist's Key

Henry Nollius (1583-1626) was a doctor, and from around 1606 published extensively on Hermetic philosophy. He does not seem to have been involved in practical alchemy but was deeply interested in the philosophy underlying alchemical ideas. In this work he explores the nature of generation, in humans, animals and plants seeking to find parallels in the mineral world, which he thought might solve the problem of the philosophers' stone.

The English alchemist, Henry Vaughan, was sufficiently impressed by Nollius' approach that he had this work on generation translated from the Latin and published in English.