Pub Date : 2022-11-29DOI: 10.1163/15733823-20220055
Doina‐Cristina Rusu
Throughout his writings, Francis Bacon shows a great interest in the power of the imagination, both on other minds and on other bodies, a crucial part of natural magic. Convinced of the overall value of magic, Bacon nevertheless takes issue with the corrupt state into which he saw this discipline as having descended, overrun with false theories and invented stories. Bacon’s reform of experimental natural philosophy includes a naturalisation of magic, and this can be best illustrated when we look at his conception of fascination. In this paper, I show that the characteristics of this naturalisation are: (1) the definition of the object of study and the classification of phenomena; (2) the use of models and analogical thinking when the topic under study is difficult to observe; (3) the introduction of measurements and quantification of natural phenomena; (4) the need for replicability and diversification of experiments; and (5) the rejection of explanations in terms of occult qualities and their replacement with explanations in terms of the motion(s) of the spiritual matter emitted from the active body, which is impressed on the motion of the spiritual matter of the passive body.
{"title":"Fascination and Action at a Distance in Francis Bacon","authors":"Doina‐Cristina Rusu","doi":"10.1163/15733823-20220055","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15733823-20220055","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Throughout his writings, Francis Bacon shows a great interest in the power of the imagination, both on other minds and on other bodies, a crucial part of natural magic. Convinced of the overall value of magic, Bacon nevertheless takes issue with the corrupt state into which he saw this discipline as having descended, overrun with false theories and invented stories. Bacon’s reform of experimental natural philosophy includes a naturalisation of magic, and this can be best illustrated when we look at his conception of fascination. In this paper, I show that the characteristics of this naturalisation are: (1) the definition of the object of study and the classification of phenomena; (2) the use of models and analogical thinking when the topic under study is difficult to observe; (3) the introduction of measurements and quantification of natural phenomena; (4) the need for replicability and diversification of experiments; and (5) the rejection of explanations in terms of occult qualities and their replacement with explanations in terms of the motion(s) of the spiritual matter emitted from the active body, which is impressed on the motion of the spiritual matter of the passive body.","PeriodicalId":49081,"journal":{"name":"Early Science and Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-11-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44046911","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-29DOI: 10.1163/15733823-20220057
P. Omodeo
The Aristotelian professor of natural philosophy and courtier at the Medici in Florence, Girolamo Borri, developed a theory based on heat to explain the tidal motions of the sea. In his dialogues on this phenomenon, he deemed that tides follow from the ‘moderate’ simmering of the waters as an effect of lunar light. His tidal theory displaced the theory of the Moon’s distant action on terrestrial waters from its traditionally astrological connotation. Moreover, his theory was not ‘empirical’ but rather inserted in a broad natural philosophical and cosmological framework. Although Galileo Galilei later dismissed heat-based explanations of the tides, such explanations are historically relevant as part of the larger scientific picture, in which controversies over the phenomenon of the tides of the sea fuelled cosmological, even post-Copernican assessments of the connection between terrestrial physics and incipient celestial physics.
{"title":"The Distant Action of the Heavens in Girolamo Borri’s Tidal Theory","authors":"P. Omodeo","doi":"10.1163/15733823-20220057","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15733823-20220057","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The Aristotelian professor of natural philosophy and courtier at the Medici in Florence, Girolamo Borri, developed a theory based on heat to explain the tidal motions of the sea. In his dialogues on this phenomenon, he deemed that tides follow from the ‘moderate’ simmering of the waters as an effect of lunar light. His tidal theory displaced the theory of the Moon’s distant action on terrestrial waters from its traditionally astrological connotation. Moreover, his theory was not ‘empirical’ but rather inserted in a broad natural philosophical and cosmological framework. Although Galileo Galilei later dismissed heat-based explanations of the tides, such explanations are historically relevant as part of the larger scientific picture, in which controversies over the phenomenon of the tides of the sea fuelled cosmological, even post-Copernican assessments of the connection between terrestrial physics and incipient celestial physics.","PeriodicalId":49081,"journal":{"name":"Early Science and Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-11-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44997027","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-29DOI: 10.1163/15733823-20220058
R. Garau
Action at a distance was one of the key features of astrology. Once a thriving discipline, astrology in the early modern period entered a crisis that ultimately culminated in its marginalization from the domain of scholarly recognition. Critics of astrology took issue, among other things, with the causative process of the supposed astrological action at a distance – traditionally based on the light shed by celestial bodies – denying that light could be a conduit of astrological influence. In response to such criticisms, some astrologers attempted to explain astrological influence based on different theoretical and natural-philosophical foundations, as, for instance, by employing Cartesianism. This paper focuses on the so far-unpublished manuscript Laurenziana ASHB1530, Astrologia Cartesiana, by the German astronomer, mathematician and astrologer Peter Megerlin (1623–1686), a professor in Basel. It shows Megerlin’s eclectic use of Cartesian elements in his treatment of the natural-philosophical bases of astrology, paying particular attention to his attempt to explain astrological influence on corpuscularian grounds. It also contributes to the reconstruction of Megerlin’s biographical and scholarly profile, focusing on the significance of his engagement with Copernican cosmology and astrology in seventeenth-century Basel.
{"title":"Explaining Astrological Influence with Cartesian Natural Philosophy: Peter Megerlin’s Manuscript Astrologia Cartesiana (ASHB1530, circa 1680)","authors":"R. Garau","doi":"10.1163/15733823-20220058","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15733823-20220058","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Action at a distance was one of the key features of astrology. Once a thriving discipline, astrology in the early modern period entered a crisis that ultimately culminated in its marginalization from the domain of scholarly recognition. Critics of astrology took issue, among other things, with the causative process of the supposed astrological action at a distance – traditionally based on the light shed by celestial bodies – denying that light could be a conduit of astrological influence. In response to such criticisms, some astrologers attempted to explain astrological influence based on different theoretical and natural-philosophical foundations, as, for instance, by employing Cartesianism. This paper focuses on the so far-unpublished manuscript Laurenziana ASHB1530, Astrologia Cartesiana, by the German astronomer, mathematician and astrologer Peter Megerlin (1623–1686), a professor in Basel. It shows Megerlin’s eclectic use of Cartesian elements in his treatment of the natural-philosophical bases of astrology, paying particular attention to his attempt to explain astrological influence on corpuscularian grounds. It also contributes to the reconstruction of Megerlin’s biographical and scholarly profile, focusing on the significance of his engagement with Copernican cosmology and astrology in seventeenth-century Basel.","PeriodicalId":49081,"journal":{"name":"Early Science and Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-11-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43446505","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-11DOI: 10.1163/15733823-20220051
I. Bonati
The history of the scientific description and conceptualisation of the condition named “hydrocephalus” goes back to Graeco-Roman antiquity. The present article provides an extensive examination of the ancient Greek and Latin texts on the topic, including the only extant medical papyrus dealing with it. A thorough investigation of these primary sources allows us to expand our knowledge of this disorder throughout history and how its nosological conception has varied over time.
{"title":"Hydrocephalus in Context: A History from Graeco-Roman Sources","authors":"I. Bonati","doi":"10.1163/15733823-20220051","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15733823-20220051","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The history of the scientific description and conceptualisation of the condition named “hydrocephalus” goes back to Graeco-Roman antiquity. The present article provides an extensive examination of the ancient Greek and Latin texts on the topic, including the only extant medical papyrus dealing with it. A thorough investigation of these primary sources allows us to expand our knowledge of this disorder throughout history and how its nosological conception has varied over time.","PeriodicalId":49081,"journal":{"name":"Early Science and Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48674851","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-11DOI: 10.1163/15733823-20220053
Ashkan Avali Pouryan
Geographic discoveries in the sixteenth century, alongside methodical reforms in the practice of natural history, created a situation that was conducive for information exchange between European agents and local informants and scholars outside of Europe. These contacts, in turn, acted as a strong stimulus for change in European natural history. Until now, research on this process of transformation has been mainly focused on areas like the Indian subcontinent or the Americas, where most of these activities occurred, both in terms of politics and science alike. But Iran, a crucial part of the world trade network in that period, is still largely neglected in this research. This paper seeks to begin to redress the balance, introducing some notable plant species that were designated to the Iranian world by sixteenth-century European naturalists. This introductory survey will help to shed some light on the diversity of scientific exchange in the sixteenth century and the role played by other lesser known areas in this process.
{"title":"Iranian World Plant Species in the European Network of Botanical Information Exchange in the Sixteenth Century","authors":"Ashkan Avali Pouryan","doi":"10.1163/15733823-20220053","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15733823-20220053","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Geographic discoveries in the sixteenth century, alongside methodical reforms in the practice of natural history, created a situation that was conducive for information exchange between European agents and local informants and scholars outside of Europe. These contacts, in turn, acted as a strong stimulus for change in European natural history. Until now, research on this process of transformation has been mainly focused on areas like the Indian subcontinent or the Americas, where most of these activities occurred, both in terms of politics and science alike. But Iran, a crucial part of the world trade network in that period, is still largely neglected in this research. This paper seeks to begin to redress the balance, introducing some notable plant species that were designated to the Iranian world by sixteenth-century European naturalists. This introductory survey will help to shed some light on the diversity of scientific exchange in the sixteenth century and the role played by other lesser known areas in this process.","PeriodicalId":49081,"journal":{"name":"Early Science and Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48503771","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-11DOI: 10.1163/15733823-20220052
V. Karpenko, J. Kučera
Based on the analysis of Tycho Brahe’s hair and bones for the presence of elevated levels of the elements iron (Fe), cobalt (Co), arsenic (As), silver (Ag) and gold (Au), this paper tries to find their likely sources and to judge whether the unusual concentrations in which they were found could have been due to some form of medication. On the basis of an osteopathological study, an attempt is made moreover to arrive at a comprehensive picture of Brahe’s health. As a possible source of the elements in question, his three elixirs and their compositions are discussed. Additionally, further inorganic medicines of the period containing the above-mentioned elements are presented and, where possible, their medical usage is discussed. While a combination of pathological data and probable medication is used to draw a general picture of Brahe’s health and potential illnesses, some questions cannot be conclusively answered, however, until more data about the astronomer’s health conditions come to light.
{"title":"Tycho Brahe’s Health and Death: What Can We Learn from the Trace Element Levels Found in His Hair and Bone Samples?","authors":"V. Karpenko, J. Kučera","doi":"10.1163/15733823-20220052","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15733823-20220052","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Based on the analysis of Tycho Brahe’s hair and bones for the presence of elevated levels of the elements iron (Fe), cobalt (Co), arsenic (As), silver (Ag) and gold (Au), this paper tries to find their likely sources and to judge whether the unusual concentrations in which they were found could have been due to some form of medication. On the basis of an osteopathological study, an attempt is made moreover to arrive at a comprehensive picture of Brahe’s health. As a possible source of the elements in question, his three elixirs and their compositions are discussed. Additionally, further inorganic medicines of the period containing the above-mentioned elements are presented and, where possible, their medical usage is discussed. While a combination of pathological data and probable medication is used to draw a general picture of Brahe’s health and potential illnesses, some questions cannot be conclusively answered, however, until more data about the astronomer’s health conditions come to light.","PeriodicalId":49081,"journal":{"name":"Early Science and Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41862937","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-01DOI: 10.1163/15733823-20220047
Victor D. Boantza
{"title":"Continuity, Change, and Embodied Knowledge in the History of Chymistry","authors":"Victor D. Boantza","doi":"10.1163/15733823-20220047","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15733823-20220047","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49081,"journal":{"name":"Early Science and Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46559593","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-01DOI: 10.1163/15733823-20220049
Alison Calhoun
{"title":"Renaissance Fun: The Machines Behind the Scenes, written by Philip Steadman","authors":"Alison Calhoun","doi":"10.1163/15733823-20220049","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15733823-20220049","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49081,"journal":{"name":"Early Science and Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44631108","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-01DOI: 10.1163/15733823-20220045
M. Donato
This article deals with early modern surgical case literature, more specifically with printed collections of observations in surgery. It examines the work of late seventeenth- to late eighteenth-century Italian practitioners from different backgrounds and of different statuses, and highlights the complexity of cognitive and social purposes pervading the genre, besides that of sharing empirical knowledge. These can be apprehended through a second look at texts and contexts, by analysing the ways in which authors selected, penned, and arranged their narratives. As the anthologies under examination show, collected observations varied significantly in focus and scope, with some seemingly designed to sustain the authoritative legacy of learned surgery, others defying a professional ethos for non-academic practitioners, and others still surveying ailments in light of hospital statistics. In fact, as this article suggests, the genre was flexible enough – and the narratives malleable enough – to adjust to changes in surgical theory and practice. In spite of new intellectual expectations, however, it was not plastic enough to take on new epistemic functions, such as reframing surgical nosology.
{"title":"Practical Knowledge and the Rhetoric of Experience: Three Italian Surgeons and Their Observations","authors":"M. Donato","doi":"10.1163/15733823-20220045","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15733823-20220045","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article deals with early modern surgical case literature, more specifically with printed collections of observations in surgery. It examines the work of late seventeenth- to late eighteenth-century Italian practitioners from different backgrounds and of different statuses, and highlights the complexity of cognitive and social purposes pervading the genre, besides that of sharing empirical knowledge. These can be apprehended through a second look at texts and contexts, by analysing the ways in which authors selected, penned, and arranged their narratives. As the anthologies under examination show, collected observations varied significantly in focus and scope, with some seemingly designed to sustain the authoritative legacy of learned surgery, others defying a professional ethos for non-academic practitioners, and others still surveying ailments in light of hospital statistics. In fact, as this article suggests, the genre was flexible enough – and the narratives malleable enough – to adjust to changes in surgical theory and practice. In spite of new intellectual expectations, however, it was not plastic enough to take on new epistemic functions, such as reframing surgical nosology.","PeriodicalId":49081,"journal":{"name":"Early Science and Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47682858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-01DOI: 10.1163/15733823-20220048
L. Saif
{"title":"Micrologus 27, The Diffusion of the Islamic Sciences in the Western World, written by Edizioni del Galluzzo","authors":"L. Saif","doi":"10.1163/15733823-20220048","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15733823-20220048","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49081,"journal":{"name":"Early Science and Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46388834","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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