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 Harold J. Cook scrutinizes a wealth of historical documents relating to the study of medicine and natural history in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, Brazil, South Africa, and Asia during this era, and his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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... original text and to understand his original meaning. Because of the rise of Greek studies at the end of the fifteenth century, in particular, scholars such as Giorgio Valla, Alessandro Benedetti, and Niccolò Leoniceno were examining ...
... original circle of investors, which meant that when old investors sold shares they went for a high price, so almost all members of the VOC stayed invested in the Company in return for whatever dividends the governors saw fit to pay. The ...
... original version, the mortal Philology—a young woman who studies books all night—acquires immortality by her marriage to Mercury, the god of commerce. Barlaeus substituted the activity of Mercatura (trade) for the god Mercury, and the ...
... original cultivators. As regard for gardens was affirmed and broadened, the market for garden plants also expanded rapidly, not only in the low countries but in France, Germany, and many other regions; tulips became one of the early ...
... original languages), a project Plantin had proposed and for which he did the printing; by the end of his stay in Antwerp (1575), Montano himself had become a Familist.37 Late in his life, when he wrote to Clusius from Seville in 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 |