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 Harold J. Cook scrutinizes a wealth of historical documents relating to the study of medicine and natural history in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, Brazil, South Africa, and Asia during this era, and his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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... thought as they did. Yet the material constraints on our mortal condition are real, the goads and shackles of economic life not least among them. Despite the fall of the Berlin Wall two decades ago, then, the materialist aspects of this ...
... thought, sometimes termed a ''metaphysical'' shift.5 Since the famous work of Thomas Kuhn and others in the late 1960s, such views have been amended by a variety of arguments adapted from sociology, anthropology, and cultural studies ...
... 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 with cassia—the most ...
... thought to be a wonderfully effective antidote to all poisons and a general preservative against most diseases. Many ancient authors recommended it, and a few listed its ingredients, from true rhubarb to serpent skins, bezoar stones ...
... thought to heal, as could items they had worn on the occasion.117 Because of their associations with such things, perhaps, executioners themselves were thought to possess particularly good abilities to treat various illnesses.118 ...
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 |