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 Harold J. Cook scrutinizes a wealth of historical documents relating to the study of medicine and natural history in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, Brazil, South Africa, and Asia during this era, and his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
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... : The Medicine of East Asia 339 ten The Refusal to Speculate: Sticking to Simple Things 378 eleven Conclusions and Comparisons 410 Notes 417 Bibliography 473 Index 537 Preface Those who turn to the past for comfort because. Contents.
... Asia and Europe. My colleagues and students in Madison, Wisconsin, and the dean of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Phil Farrell, offered encouragement for the project. Rob Howell and Jolanda Taylor ...
... Asia. With their commercial enterprises backed up by naval power, the Dutch rapidly took over most of the Portuguese places in Asia, and in many parts of Africa and South America, while adding yet other new ports of call to the list of ...
... Asia. That began after Vasco da Gama rounded Africa in 1497–98 and Pedro Álvares Cabral followed up with a great fleet returning to Lisbon loaded with spices, resulting in spectacular financial success despite the loss of half his ...
... Asia: pepper, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and mace. Black pepper was from the immature dried berry of a climbing vine that grew on the Malabar coast (now Kerala) of the Indian subcontinent, on the large island of Sumatra, and at a ...
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 |