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 Harold J. Cook scrutinizes a wealth of historical documents relating to the study of medicine and natural history in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, Brazil, South Africa, and Asia during this era, and his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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... plants. Herb wives and wise women occasionally deigned to explain a bit of their knowledge to grand men who asked them for it. Medical practitioners of many kinds made and sold medicines, sometimes chemically prepared, or offered advice ...
... plants: priests who stood in hot sands all day looking straight at the sun as well as forest-dwellers who lived from the scent of flowers alone.10 The islands further to the southeast, ''the Indies,'' were a region of even more wonders ...
... plant that was sometimes thought to be the root of the pepper vine, since it came from the same general region of India; cinnamon was from the bark of a shrub that grew mainly in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). (Cinnamon is still often confused ...
... plants and insects to the borders of manuscripts such as books of hours (meant for contemplation) and breviaries (books of prayers). Netherlandish painters such as Jan van Eyck increasingly included naturalistic details in the ...
... plants, animals, and minerals and their medical uses. The famous printer of Venice Aldus Manutius brought out a Greek edition of Dioscorides in 1499, and this was followed by a reliable Latin translation by the French medical humanist ...
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 |