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 Harold J. Cook scrutinizes a wealth of historical documents relating to the study of medicine and natural history in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, Brazil, South Africa, and Asia during this era, and his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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... give the study some geographical focus, most of the examples are taken from the region of northwestern Europe loosely termed the Dutch Republic. They in turn emphasize the foundational significance of what we would today call the life ...
... gives an account of how a Dutch physician, Willem ten Rhijne, worked with colleagues in Japan to produce one of the earliest European analyses of acupuncture and moxibustion, and a translation of some works on Chinese knowledge of how ...
... give off a powerful and agreeable fragrance and serve some useful purpose.'' Moreover, ''there are, in addition, many precious spices of various sorts,'' including pepper both white and black.11 A long list of roots, seeds, flowers ...
... give them plausibility; and wedded to no theory. Such was my man.''107 Elsewhere, like Rabelais before him, he wrote of how the wisdom of Socrates lay in his common touch, the simple language of cobblers and shepherds. Even before both ...
... give them anatomy lessons.111 Probably because surgeons were called in for such purposes, their guild charters often included the annual right to dissect in public one or more bodies of executed criminals. Ordinary people in the early ...
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 |