Editing Thomas Browne (section)

=== Death and aftermath ===
[[File:The skull of Sir Thomas Browne.jpg|thumb|Browne's skull, as illustrated in Charles Williams's ''The Measurements of the Skull of Sir Thomas Browne'' (1895)]]
Browne died on 19 October 1682, his 77th birthday. He was buried in the [[chancel]] of [[St Peter Mancroft]], Norwich. His skull was removed when his lead coffin was accidentally re-opened by workmen in 1840. It was not re-interred in St Peter Mancroft until 4 July 1922 when it was recorded in the [[Parish register|burial register]] as aged 317 years.<ref name="Dic">{{cite news |last1=Dickey |first1=Colin |title=The Fate of His Bones: Sir Thomas Browne and the craniokleptic impulse |url=http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/28/dickey.php |access-date=24 August 2023 |work=[[Cabinet Magazine]] |issue=28 |date=2007}}</ref> Browne's [[coffin plate]],  which was stolen the same time as his skull, was also eventually recovered, broken into two halves, one of which is on display at St Peter Mancroft. Alluding to the commonplace opus of [[alchemy]] it reads, ''Amplissimus Vir Dns. Thomas Browne, Miles, Medicinae Dr., Annos Natus 77 Denatus 19 Die mensis Octobris, Anno. Dni. 1682, hoc Loculo indormiens. Corporis Spagyrici pulvere plumbum in aurum Convertit.'' — translated from Latin as "The esteemed Gentleman Thomas Browne, Knight, Doctor of Medicine, 77 years old, died on the 19th of October in the year of Our Lord 1682 and lies sleeping in this coffin. With the dust of his alchemical body he converts lead into gold".{{citation needed|date=December 2021}} The origin of the invented word [[spagyric|''spagyrici'']] is from the Greek ''spao'' to tear open + ''ageiro'' to collect, a signature neologism coined by [[Paracelsus]] to define his medicine-oriented alchemy; the origins of [[iatrochemistry]], being first advanced by him.{{sfn|Principe|2013|p=129}}

Browne's coffin-plate verse, along with the collected works of Paracelsus and several followers of the Swiss physician listed in his library, is evidence that although sometimes highly critical of Paracelsus, nevertheless, like the 'Luther of Medicine', he believed in [[palingenesis]], [[physiognomy]], alchemy, [[astrology]] and the [[kabbalah]].{{citation required|date=August 2023}}

The [[Library of Sir Thomas Browne]] was held in the care of his eldest son Edward until 1708. The auction of Browne and his son Edward's libraries in January 1711 was attended by [[Hans Sloane]]. Editions from the library were subsequently included in the founding collection of the [[British Library]].<ref name=finch>''A Facsimile of the 1711 Sales Auction Catalogue of Sir Thomas Browne and his son Edward's Libraries. Introduction, notes and index by J.S. Finch'' (E.J. Brill: Leiden, 1986) Page 7</ref>