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 Harold J. Cook scrutinizes a wealth of historical documents relating to the study of medicine and natural history in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, Brazil, South Africa, and Asia during this era, and his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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... moved to London and had initial success only later to be charged with malpractice for the use of a new remedy he developed. In studying the past of yet another country, many of my assumptions about the patterns of early modern history ...
... moved into English in the mid-eighteenth century) rather than savoir, all of which indicate knowing by acquaintance rather than by reasoning. In other words, what one knows from the senses as filtered by taste and experience has to do ...
... moved from incidental detail to the focus of attention throughout Europe.46 It is therefore possible to speak about objectivity as a kind of knowledge being cultivated in the early modern period: a knowledge appertaining to a detailed ...
... moved in and through one's whole being. They prompted action and thought together. Derived from the Greek pathos, meaning something that has befallen one, what one has experienced or suffered, and moving into Latin as passio, the term ...
... moved steadily, invariably (aside from mechanical inconsistency), dividing the day into equal hours. Now it was the night or day that changed according to the hour, not the hour that altered according to the light. Clocks quickly ...
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 |