Matters of Exchange: Commerce, Medicine, and Science in the Dutch Golden AgeA new and unexpected history of the Dutch pursuit of commerce in the 16th and 17th centuries and how it triggered the Scientific Revolution In this wide-ranging and stimulating book, a leading authority on the history of medicine and science presents convincing evidence that Dutch commerce—not religion—inspired the rise of science in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Harold J. Cook scrutinizes a wealth of historical documents relating to the study of medicine and natural history in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, Brazil, South Africa, and Asia during this era, and his conclusions are fresh and exciting. He uncovers direct links between the rise of trade and commerce in the Dutch Empire and the flourishing of scientific investigation. Cook argues that engaging in commerce changed the thinking of Dutch citizens, leading to a new emphasis on such values as objectivity, accumulation, and description. The preference for accurate information that accompanied the rise of commerce also laid the groundwork for the rise of science globally, wherever the Dutch engaged in trade. Medicine and natural history were fundamental aspects of this new science, as reflected in the development of gardens for both pleasure and botanical study, anatomical theaters, curiosity cabinets, and richly illustrated books about nature. Sweeping in scope and original in its insights, this book revises previous understandings of the history of science and ideas. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 95
... Amsterdam-London commercial axis at the end of the 1690s, long-distance seaborne trade throughout the world fell largely under the control of merchants along the European Atlantic coast. They in turn financed the apparatus of their ...
... Amsterdam the sake of simplicity, then, it is possible to say that many early modern people considered the highest kind of knowledge to be the result of study of the objects (res) of nature. COLLECTING OBJECTS AND SPECIMENS The high ...
... Amsterdam followed Antwerp's example by building its own Beurs.)37 In other words, Antwerp became a permanent staple market, the major entrepôt of northwestern Europe. The Amsterdam Exchange (Beurs) in the seventeenth century ...
... Amsterdam Exchange (Beurs) in the seventeenth century. Unattributed engraving after an old woodcut in the Nuremberg Museum. Once inventory had been accumulated in one place, however, it could be transformed into something with universal ...
... Amsterdam.67 Like other northern cities, Amsterdam benefited enormously from the wealth and knowledge brought to it by refugees from Antwerp and other cities of the south. After the establishment of the seven United Provinces in the mid ...
Contents
1 | |
42 | |
82 | |
Four Commerce and Medicine in Amsterdam | 133 |
Five Truths and Untruths from the Indies | 175 |
Descartes in the Republic | 226 |
Seven Industry and Analysis | 267 |
Eight Gardens of the Indies Transported | 304 |
The Medicine of East Asia | 339 |
Sticking to Simple Things | 378 |
Eleven Conclusions and Comparisons | 410 |
Notes | 417 |
Bibliography | 473 |
Index | 537 |
Other editions - View all
Matters of Exchange: Commerce, Medicine, and Science in the Dutch Golden Age Harold John Cook No preview available - 2007 |