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 Harold J. Cook scrutinizes a wealth of historical documents relating to the study of medicine and natural history in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, Brazil, South Africa, and Asia during this era, and his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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... Works: 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.
... East Indies like Jacobus Bontius, Georgius Everhardus Rumphius, Hendrik Adriaan van Reede, and Willem ten Rhijne, or those resident in The Netherlands like the ''tea doctor'' Cornelis Bontekoe; medical professors such as Pieter Pauw ...
... East and West Indies, centered on the work of the physician Bontius, illustrate how matters of fact were gathered, transformed, and exchanged as part of a worldwide commercial network. But new methods of accounting for the human body ...
... east over marsh and pasture to the hills and woods of the Argonne, then north to about the mouth of the Ems, and back southwest along the dunes and sand beaches of the coast—that is, it ran from what is today northern France into what ...
... east, south of Cathay, the fabled widespread region known generally as ''India,'' which according to some accounts was ruled by the wondrous and powerful Christian prince Prester John. Here lived strange people, animals, and plants ...
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 |
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Matters of Exchange: Commerce, Medicine, and Science in the Dutch Golden Age Harold John Cook No preview available - 2007 |