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 Harold J. Cook scrutinizes a wealth of historical documents relating to the study of medicine and natural history in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, Brazil, South Africa, and Asia during this era, and his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 88
... European Atlantic coast. They in turn financed the apparatus of their respective nation-states to guarantee their security, and in some places, such as the Dutch Republic, even waged wars abroad in their own right. As they and their ...
... European analyses of acupuncture and moxibustion, and a translation of some works on Chinese knowledge of how to ... Europe, end the story. Underlying the connections between the history of early modern commerce and science are echoes of ...
... Europe, a region as highly urbanized and dependent on commerce as northern Italy. It was especially because of commerce that its people prospered. Goods sent from the Mediterranean to the North Sea or the Baltic often traveled through ...
... European medicine and cooking depended came from even farther away: the spiky one, named after the Latin word clavus ... Europe.12 These merchants were known as ''grocers'' (for dealing with quantities by the gross), ''apothecaries ...
... European market shifted to Cyprus, Crete, and Sicily, with a smaller amount in Spain and Portugal. About a century ... Europe, but by sea from East Africa to South Asia and on to the Spice Islands, China, and Japan, connecting places ...
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 |