Obereit, Jakob Hermann

Obereit, Jakob Hermann a Swiss alchemist and mystic, was born at Arbon, in Thurgau, in 1725. Almost the first books he read were the works of Miss Bourignon and Madame Guyon. He first studied surgery, then architecture, and traveled through Germany. He completed his studies at the universities of Halle and Berlin. After graduating, he settled at Lindau in 1750, and soon acquired great reputation as a physician. Here however, his love for all novelty made him lose the confidence of the public, and he fell into deep mystical speculation, the result of which is apparent in his Defence of Mysticism (1775), and Promenades de Gamaliel, Juif Philosophe (1780). He died at Jena in 1798.