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 Harold J. Cook scrutinizes a wealth of historical documents relating to the study of medicine and natural history in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, Brazil, South Africa, and Asia during this era, and his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
... Indies 175 six Medicine and Materialism: Descartes in the Republic 226 seven Industry and Analysis 267 eight Gardens of the Indies Transported 304 nine Translating What Works: The Medicine of East Asia 339 ten The Refusal to Speculate ...
... Indies by Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama in 1490s, and the consolidation of the Amsterdam-London commercial axis at the end of the 1690s, long-distance seaborne trade throughout the world fell largely under the control of ...
... 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 and its ...
... Indies,'' were a region of even more wonders and of fabulous wealth. Marco Polo never got there, although he reported that reliable pilots and seamen said that 7,448 islands were to be found in the Indies, ''And I assure you that in all ...
... Indies became fundamental;98 from the low countries, three botanists became especially well known in the mid-sixteenth century, Dodonaeus (Rembert Dodoens), Lobelius (Matthias de l'Obel), and Carolus Clusius (Charles de l'Escluse); the ...
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 |