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 Harold J. Cook scrutinizes a wealth of historical documents relating to the study of medicine and natural history in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, Brazil, South Africa, and Asia during this era, and his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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... took place during the first age of global commerce. To 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 ...
... took careful note of what they saw and sent back specimens. Apothecaries eagerly accumulated information about the goods that passed through their shops, displayed strange bits of nature to draw in customers and demonstrate their ...
... took over most of the Portuguese places in Asia, and in many parts of Africa and South America, while adding yet other new ports of call to the list of their possessions from North America to Southeast Asia. At the same time, to ...
... took it for granted that discovery was a more or less self-evident process, so that if one went to the trouble of looking closely, new information about the world would readily become apparent. It was simply a question of going out and ...
... took root throughout the Caribbean: cane was brought to Santo Domingo as early as Columbus's second voyage.24 Not many years after, in 1515, a surgeon there named Gonzalo de Vellosa imported sugar masters from the Canary Islands to set ...
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 |