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 Harold J. Cook scrutinizes a wealth of historical documents relating to the study of medicine and natural history in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, Brazil, South Africa, and Asia during this era, and his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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... developed an ambition to integrate accounts of intellectual history with sociopolitical and economic history. I still seek to understand what the changes of the early modern period would look like were they depicted, not as a kind of ...
... developed. In studying the past of yet another country, many of my assumptions about the patterns of early modern history were altered. The early modern Netherlands was an unusual place. The polity was self-evidently unable to live from ...
... developed the fluyt, a broad-bottomed and shallow draft ship that could carry large amounts of bulk goods while requiring little manpower due to the deployment of new pulley systems in the rigging. All this gave regional merchants ...
... developed by which raw cane was imported to Venice and refined in huge boiling factories into cone-shaped sugar loaves with syrup as a by-product, both of which were exported along with other spices, bringing additional wealth to the ...
... developed into the second most important mercantile city in Europe after Venice, with a huge population of about one hundred thousand.28 Its printers, artists, and many others working in the luxury trades were internationally recognized ...
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 |