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 Harold J. Cook scrutinizes a wealth of historical documents relating to the study of medicine and natural history in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, Brazil, South Africa, and Asia during this era, and his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. |
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... the Dutch Golden Age Harold John Cook. Matters of Exchange Commerce, Medicine, and Science in the Dutch Golden Age Harold J. Cook Yale University Press New Haven & London Published with assistance from the foundation established in memory ...
... established in memory of Philip Hamilton McMillan of the Class of 1894, Yale College. Copyright © 2007 by Harold J. Cook. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form ...
... established trade routes flowed, not only to Europe, but by sea from East Africa to South Asia and on to the Spice Islands, China, and Japan, connecting places like Zanzibar and Basra to the Coromandel coast, Java, the Banda Islands ...
... fact. The word usually had a legal application as a term for ''what had happened,'' a true account of which needed to be established in order to begin the process 16 Worldly Goods and the Transformations of Objectivity.
... established in order to begin the process of rendering a judgment about it. Generally speaking, only late in the sixteenth century did the word start to be applied in a way that meant something that had ''really occurred . . . hence a ...
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 |