[Not Available].
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Bibliography, National↗
Biomedical subjects
R Vermij
Publications and source records attributed to R Vermij.
Subterranean Fire. Changing theories of the earth during the Renaissance.
Aristotle described the earth as a cold and dry body and paid no attention to the phenomenon of terrestrial heat. Renaissance physicians, by contrast, when seeking to understand the origin of hot springs in the context of their balneological studies, came to defend a theory of subterranean fires. This tradition, which started in Italy, became widely known through the works of Georgius Agricola. But although it had implications for the explanation of further natural phenomena, it remained almost exclusively confined to medical circles. As far as physics as an academic discipline was concerned, the ideas concerning subterranean fire were hardly taken note of. Only with the collapse of Aristotelian philosophy in the seventeenth century could these by then "old innovations" obtain a wider significance.
Balneology↗
[Not Available].
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Bibliography, National↗
[Searching for science. A critique of experimental and mathematical traditions in the early modern period].
The article revisits the claim by Thomas Kuhn, that early modern science really consisted of two separate traditions, each with its own development: a mathematical and an experimental (or Baconian) tradition. It is argued that on close inspection, the grounds for this division appear rather arbitrary. Kuhn's Baconian tradition seems to have been modelled after an idealised concept of science that developed in circles of the Royal Society. It should be stressed, however, that such ideas were not the natural products of a tradition, but constructions which responded to local circumstances. The various forms of scientific practice are by no means an indication of parallel development. In fact, during the early modern era disciplinary boundaries were extremely fluid; the divisions of knowledge that were acknowledged do not have the character of modern disciplines. After all, science was as yet non-existent. It came into being as a result of intellectual experimentation and boundary-crossing, bringing together elements from various fields, rather than by the development of one or two traditions.
History, Modern 1601-↗