which were globular in shape with a high, tapered neck, a collar, and a punt. His manufacturing technique involved a coal furnace, made hotter than usual by the inclusion of a wind tunnel, and a higher ratio of sand to potash and lime than was customary. Digby's technique produced wine bottles which were stronger and more stable than most of their day, and which due to their translucent green or brown color protected the contents from light. During his exile and prison term, others claimed his technique as their own, but in 1662 Parliament recognised his claim to the invention as valid. In fiction Digby and his wife are the subjects of the 2014 literary novel Viper Wine by Hermione Eyre. He is mentioned in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter. In the chapter titled "The Leech", the narrator describes the antagonist, Chillingworth, as having an impressive knowledge of medicine, remarking that Chillingworth claims to have been a colleague of Digby "and other famous men" in the study of natural philosophy. Digby's "scientific attainments" are called "hardly less than supernatural". Digby also appears in Umberto Eco's novel "The Island of the Day Before" as "Mr. d'Igby". He explains the principle of his sympathetic powder (unguentum armarium) to the main character. See also Digby Mythographer The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digbie Kt. Opened – a 1669 cookery book supposedly based on Digby's writings References Further reading Bligh, E. W. Sir Kenelm Digby and his Venetia, London: S. Low, Marston, 1932 Fulton, John Farquhar. Sir Kenelm Digby: Writer, Bibliophile and Protagonist of William Harvey, New York: Oliver, 1937 Longueville, Thomas. The Life of Sir Kenelm Digby Longmans, Green, and Co., 1896 Peterson, Robert T. Sir Kenelm Digby, the Ornament of England, 1603–1665, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1956. External links Digby's Observations upon Religio Medici The Extraordinary Streetfight of Kenelm Digby, The Association of Renaissance Martial Arts Mortimer Rare Book Room, Smith College A short extract from one of Digby's books on alchemy Medicina experimentalis Digbaeana, das ist: Außerlesene und bewährte Artzeney-Mittel : auß weiland Herrn Grafen Digby ... Manuscriptis zusammen gebracht; übers. und an Tag gegeben . Bd. 1–2 . Zubrodt, Franckfurt Nunmehro ... übersehen und ... verm. 1676 Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf SIR KENELM DIGBY 1603-1665, Resources and References by John Sutton 1603 births 1665 deaths 17th-century alchemists 17th-century astrologers 17th-century philosophers