2) The
iatrochemists, seeing life as chemical process, such as Jan Baptist van Helmont (1579-1644) of Brussels, Franciscus Sylvius (1614-1672) of Leiden (founder of iatrochemistry), or Thomas Willis (1621-1675) of Oxford and London.
75) Mandeville, too, agreed with this conception of the nurturing State, referring to the medicine of iatrochemists. For this economist-cum-physician, the stomach was not only a good cook, because chewing and trituration were not enough for good digestion.
Colbert was also interested in the development of thermal spas (Vichy, Saint Galmier), giving credence to the iatrochemists who increasingly advocated the need to drink water, and who praised the mineral and chemical properties of certain springs.