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 Harold J. Cook scrutinizes a wealth of historical documents relating to the study of medicine and natural history in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, Brazil, South Africa, and Asia during this era, and his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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... appearance. It all suggests a world composed of forces hardly noticed in our comfortable lives of custom and habit. The voyage of imagination that led to this book began when I was a student when, for some reason, I developed an ...
... appeared, with the more than forty commentaries on it giving it a degree of attention ''rarely equalled.'' Indeed, commenting on Pliny became ''a characteristic scientific genre of the Renaissance.''53 With both the development of ...
... appeared in 1542, with several subsequent editions, several in a small-size format for easy consultation in the field. Also in 1542, the Zurich physician Conrad Gesner published hisCatalogus plantarum(''Cata- log of plants''), and soon ...
... appeared as a way of suggesting that a defense of Christian belief could be based on evidence of God the Creator alone. An argument rooted in the things he created seemed useful in converting Jews and Muslims when arguments based on ...
... appearing at roughly the same time. The publication of such information was a service provided for the general community of merchants rather than for an individual house or firm, allowing for long-distance public circulation of ...
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 |