Part 1

Transcriber’s notes:

In this transcription, paired _underscores_ denote _italicised text_ and a ^ (caret) indicates that the next character was superscripted in the original text. Footnotes are located at the end of the book.

The cover image of the book was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

Potential problems:

The text contains numerous foreign and uncommon typographic characters. In addition to Greek, there are passages of Hebrew and Arabic text (which read from right-to-left and are normally right justified) that will not necessarily display correctly with all devices. The book is most easily read with a browser using the HTML version of the transcription. If some of the characters look abnormal, first ensure that the ‘character encoding’ of your device/browser is set to Unicode (UTF-8). You might also need to change the default font. Standard fonts such as Times New Roman, Georgia or Lucida Sans Unicode are sometimes adequate, but it might be necessary to use a less-common font such as Arial Unicode MS, DejaVu, Segoe UI Symbol or FreeSerif to see all characters correctly. Right alignment of the Hebrew and Arabic paragraphs will generally only be apparent with a monospaced font such as DejaVuSansMono.

Some diacritics don’t display consistently. For example, the Greek letter υ̑ occurs in several words and with some browsers and fonts the inverted breve is displaced towards the following letter; the same anomaly occurs with macrons above letters in some old English words. The Hebrew passage contains several letters with single or double overhead dots (of uncertain significance) that can’t be replicated on screen – the HTML version has a hyperlinked image of the original for anyone wishing to see it.

Roman numerals are widely used and often in archaic ways. Numerals followed by an italicised _l_, _s_, or _d_ indicate monetary values in imperial pounds shillings and pence units, e.g. xxxiii_l_. vi_s_. viii_d_. represents 33 pounds 6 shillings 8 pence (a space sometimes separates the numeral from the unit). The last ‘i’ (‘one’) in a roman numeral was often represented by the letter ‘j’; hence iiij_d_ is equivalent to 4 pence, and ‘ij holownesses’ should be read as ‘two holownesses’.

Numerous portions of text enclosed within square brackets were inserted by the author (not the transcriber) for clarification or translation, as were several (sic) entries in the Hebrew and Arabic texts.

The index has many references to both page numbers and footnote numbers, e.g. 24 n. (a single unnumbered footnote), 93 n. 3, 126 nn. 4, 5, (pages containing multiple footnotes), and also to numbered figures and plates. The original footnote numbering began afresh at 1. on each page, but in this transcription footnotes are numbered sequentially from the beginning of the book and the numbers no longer correspond to those shown in the index. Many of the illustrations have been moved from their original location to be closer to the relevant text discussion.

Errors and inconsistencies:

Punctuation anomalies have been corrected silently (e.g. missing periods, commas and semicolons, incorrect or missing quotation marks, unpaired parentheses).

Unambiguous typographic errors such as the following, have been corrected silently:

Lexico nder-->Lexicon der Aa-->As [a matter of fact] Chiru gie-->Chirurgie Weisbaden-->Wiesbaden

but inconsistent spellings such as those below have not been altered: paniculi/panniculi paniculo/panniculo feçe/fece Literatur/Litteratur literae/litterae aligati/alligati cf./cp. dilatare/dillatare dilitano/dillitano diuidendo/dividendo judgement/judgment

Inconsistent capitalisation of Fig. and Plate has been standardised, as has inconsistent spacing of expressions such as A.D. i.e. and § 6 (a paragraph number).

* * * * *

STUDIES

IN THE

HISTORY AND METHOD OF SCIENCE

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

LONDON EDINBURGH GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE CAPE TOWN BOMBAY

HUMPHREY MILFORD PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY

STUDIES IN THE HISTORY AND METHOD OF SCIENCE

EDITED BY CHARLES SINGER

OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1917

PRINTED IN ENGLAND AT THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

INTRODUCTION

The record of men and of movements, History teaches us the growth and development of ideas. Our civilization is the final expression of the two great master-thoughts of the race. Seeking an explanation of the pressing phenomena of life, man has peopled the world with spiritual beings to whom he has assigned benign or malign influences, to be invoked or propitiated. To the great ‘uncharted region’ (Gilbert Murray) with its mysteries, his religions offer a guide; and through ‘a belief in spiritual beings’ (Tylor’s definition of religion) he has built an altar of righteousness in his heart. The birth of the other dominant idea, long delayed, is comparatively recent. ‘The discovery of things as they really are’ (Plato) by a study of nature was the great gift of the Greeks. Knowledge, _scientia_, knowledge of things we see, patiently acquired by searching out the secrets of nature, is the basis of our material civilization. The true and lawful goal of the sciences, seen dimly and so expressed by Bacon, is the acquisition of new powers by new discoveries--that goal has been reached. Niagara has been harnessed, and man’s dominion has extended from earth and sea to the air. The progress of physics and of chemistry has revolutionized man’s ways and works, while the new biology has changed his mental outlook.

The greater part of this progress has taken place within the memory of those living, and the mass of scientific work has accumulated at such a rate that specialism has become inevitable. While this has the obvious advantage resulting from a division of labour, there is the penalty of a narrowed horizon, and groups of men work side by side whose language is unintelligible to each other.

Here is where the historian comes in, with two definite objects, teaching the method by which the knowledge has been gained, the evolution of the subject, and correlating the innumerable subdivisions in a philosophy at once, in Plato’s words, a science in itself as well as of other sciences. For example, the student of physics may know Crookes’s tubes and their relation to Röntgen, but he cannot have a true conception of the atomic theory without a knowledge of Democritus; and the exponent of Madame Curie and of Sir J. J. Thomson will find his happiest illustrations from the writings of Lucretius. It is unfortunate that the progress of science makes useless the very works that made progress possible; and the student is too apt to think that because useless now they have never been of value.

The need of a comprehensive study of the methods of science is now widely recognized, and to recognize this need important Journals have been started, notably _Isis_, published by our Belgian colleague George Sarton, interrupted, temporarily we hope, by the war; and _Scientia_, an International Review of Scientific Synthesis published by our Italian Allies. The numerous good histories of science issued within the past few years bear witness to a real demand for a wider knowledge of the methods by which the present status has been reached. Among works from which the student may get a proper outlook on the whole question may be mentioned Dannemann’s _Die Naturwissenschaften in ihrer Entwicklung und in ihrem Zusammenhange_, Bd. IV; _De la Méthode dans les Sciences_, edited by Félix Thomas (Paris: Alcan); Marvin’s _Living Past_, 3rd ed. (Clarendon Press, 1917); and Libby’s _Introduction to the History of Science_ (Houghton Mifflin & Co., 1917).

This volume of Essays is the outcome of a quiet movement on the part of a few Oxford students to stimulate a study of the history of science. Shortly after his appointment to the Philip Walker Studentship, Dr. Charles Singer (of Magdalen College) obtained leave from Bodley’s Librarian and the Curators to have a bay in the Radcliffe Camera set apart for research work in the history of science and a safe installed to hold manuscripts; and (with Mrs. Singer) offered £100 a year for five years to provide the necessary fittings, and special books not already in the Library. The works relating to the subject have been collected in the room, the objects of which are:

First, to place at the disposal of the general student a collection that will enable him to acquire a knowledge of the development of science and scientific conceptions.

Secondly, to assist the special student in research: (_a_) by placing him in relationship with investigations already undertaken; (_b_) by collecting information on the sources and accessibility of his material; and (_c_) by providing him with facilities to work up his material.

In spite of the absence of Dr. Singer on military duty for the greater part of the time, the work has been carried on with conspicuous success, to use the words of Bodley’s Librarian. Ten special students have used the room. Professor Ramsay Wright has made a study of an interesting Persian medical manuscript. Professor William Libby, of Pittsburg, during the session of 1915-16, used the room in the preparation of his admirable _History of Science_ just issued. Dr. E. T. Withington, the well-known medical historian, is making a special study of the old Greek writers for the new edition of Liddell and Scott’s _Dictionary_. Miss Mildred Westland has helped Dr. Singer with the Italian medical manuscripts. Mr. Reuben Levy has worked at the Arabic medical manuscripts of Moses Maimonides. Mrs. Jenkinson is engaged on a study of early medicine and magic. Dr. J. L. E. Dreyer, the distinguished historian of Astronomy, has used the room in connexion with the preparation of the _Opera Omnia_ of Tycho Brahe. Miss Joan Evans is engaged upon a research on mediaeval lapidaries. Mrs. Singer has begun a study of the English medical manuscripts, with a view to a complete catalogue. How important this is may be judged from the first instalment of her work dealing with the plague manuscripts in the British Museum. With rare enthusiasm and energy Dr. Singer has himself done a great deal of valuable work, and has proved an intellectual ferment working far beyond the confines of Oxford. I have myself found the science history room of the greatest convenience, and it is most helpful to have easy access on the shelves to a large collection of works on the subject. Had the war not interfered, we had hoped to start a _Journal of the History and Method of Science_ and to organize a summer school for special students--hopes we may perhaps see realized in happier days.

Meanwhile, this volume of essays (most of which were in course of preparation when war was declared) is issued as a _ballon d’essai_.

WILLIAM OSLER.

CONTENTS

PAGE

CHARLES SINGER The Scientific Views and Visions of Saint Hildegard (1098-1180) 1

J. W. JENKINSON Vitalism 59

CHARLES SINGER A Study in Early Renaissance Anatomy, with a new text: The _ANOTHOMIA_ of Hieronymo Manfredi, transcribed and translated by A. Mildred Westland 79

RAYMOND CRAWFURD The Blessing of Cramp-Rings; a Chapter in the History of the Treatment of Epilepsy 165

E. T. WITHINGTON Dr. John Weyer and the Witch Mania 189

REUBEN LEVY The ‘Tractatus de Causis et Indiciis Morborum’, attributed to Maimonides 225

SCHILLER, F. C. S. Scientific Discovery and Logical Proof 235

INDEX 291

LIST OF PLATES

PLATE FACING PAGE

I. Hildegard receiving the Light from Heaven (Wiesbaden Codex B, fo. 1 _r_) _Frontispiece_

II. The Three Scripts of the Wiesbaden Codex B (fo. 17 _r_, col. b; fo. 32 _v_, col. b; fo. 205 _r_, col. b) 4

III. Title-page of the Heidelberg Codex of the _Scivias_ 5

IV. The Universe (from the Heidelberg Codex of the _Scivias_) 12

V. (_a_) Opening lines of the Copenhagen MS. of the _Causae et Curae_. (_b_) Opening lines of the Lucca MS. of the _Liber divinorum operum simplicis hominis_ 13

VI. Nous pervaded by the Godhead and controlling Hyle (Lucca MS., fo. 1 _v_) 20

VII. Nous pervaded by the Godhead embracing the Macrocosm with the Microcosm (Lucca MS., fo. 9 _r_) 21

VIII. The Macrocosm, the Microcosm, and the Winds (Lucca MS., fo. 27 _v_) 28

IX. Celestial Influences on Men, Animals, and Plants (Lucca MS., fo. 371) 28

X. A Crucifix in the Uffizi Gallery; about the middle of the thirteenth century 30

XI. The Structure of the Mundane Sphere (Lucca MS., fo. 86 _v_) 32

XII. (_a_) Man’s Fall and the Disturbance of the Elemental Harmony (Wiesbaden Codex B, fo. 4 _r_). (_b_) The New Heaven and the New Earth (Wiesbaden Codex B, fo. 224 _v_) 33

XIII. The Last Judgement and Fate of the Elements (Wiesbaden Codex B, fo. 224 _r_) 36

XIV. Diagram of the Relation of Human and Cosmic Phenomena: ninth century (Bibliothèque Nationale MS. lat. 5543, fo. 136 _r_) 37

XV. An Eleventh-century French Melothesia (Bibliothèque Nationale MS. lat. 7028, fo. 154 _r_) 40

XVI. A Melothesia of about 1400 (from Bibliothèque Nationale MS. lat. 11229, fo. 45 _v_) _Between_ 40 _and_ 41

XVII. Facsimile from the _Symbolum Apostolicorum_, a German Block Book of the first half of the Fifteenth Century (Heidelberg University Library) _Between_ 40 _and_ 41

XVIII. An Anatomical Diagram of about 1298 (Bodleian MS. Ashmole 399, fo. 18 _r_) 41

XIX. Birth. The Arrival and Trials of the Soul (Wiesbaden Codex B, fo. 22 _r_) 44

XX. Death. The Departure and Fate of the Soul (Wiesbaden Codex B, fo. 25 _r_) 45

XXI. The Fall of the Angels (Wiesbaden Codex B, fo. 123 _r_) 46

XXII. The Days of Creation and the Fall of Man (Wiesbaden Codex B, fo. 41 _v_) 48

XXIII. The Vision of the Trinity (Wiesbaden Codex B, fo. 471) 50

XXIV. (_a_) Sedens Lucidus (Wiesbaden Codex B, fo. 213 _v_). (_b_) Zelus Dei (Wiesbaden Codex B, fo. 153 _r_) 52

XXV. The Heavenly City (Wiesbaden Codex B, fo. 30 _r_) 54

XXVI. John Wilfred Jenkinson 57

XXVII. Mundinus (?) lecturing on Anatomy (from the 1493 edition of ‘Ketham’) 78

XXVIII. (_a_) Four Diagrams, to illustrate the Anatomy of Henri de Mondeville (Bibliothèque Nationale MS. fr. 2030, written in 1314). (_b_) A Dissection Scene, _circa_ 1298 (Bodleian MS. Ashmole 399, fo. 34 _r_) 79

XXIX. A Post-Mortem Examination: late fourteenth century to illustrate Guy de Chauliac (Montpellier, Bibliothèque de la Faculté de Médecine MS. fr. 184, fo. 14 _r_) 80

XXX. (_a_) A Demonstration of Surface Markings: second half of fifteenth century (Vatican MS. Hispanice 4804, fo. 8 _r_). (_b_) A Demonstration of the Bones to illustrate Guy de Chauliac: first half of fifteenth century (Bristol Reference Library MS., fo. 25 _r_) 81

XXXI. Anatomical Sketches from the MS. of Guy de Vigevano of 1345 at Chantilly 84

XXXII. Anatomical Sketches from the MS. of Guy de Vigevano of 1345 at Chantilly 85

XXXIII. The Five-Figure Series: Veins, &c., Arteries, Nerves, Bones, Muscles (Bodleian MS. Ashmole 399, fos. 18 _r_-22 _r_): about 1298 92

XXXIV. Demonstrations of Anatomy: second half of fifteenth century (Dresden Galen MS.) 93

XXXV. A View of the Internal Organs: Leonardo da Vinci (from a drawing in the Library, Windsor Castle) 96

XXXVI. Two Persons dissecting, traditionally said to represent Michelangelo and Antonio della Torre (from a drawing in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, attributed to Bartolomeo Manfredi (1574?-1602)) 97

XXXVII. Portrait of Giovanni Bentivoglio II, from his tomb in the Church of S. Giacomo Maggiore at Bologna 102

XXXVIII. (_a_) Roger Bacon’s Diagram of the Eye: thirteenth century (British Museum MS. Roy. 7 F. VIII, fo. 50 _v_). (_b_) Leonardo da Vinci’s Diagram of the Heart: early sixteenth century (from a drawing in Windsor Castle) 103

XXXIX. Miracles at the Tomb of Edward the Confessor, from Norman-French thirteenth-century MS. (University Library, Cambridge, MS. Ee. iii. 59) 166

XL. Queen Mary Tudor blessing Cramp-Rings (from Queen Mary’s Illuminated MS. Manual, in the Library of the Roman Catholic Cathedral at Westminster) 178

XLI. Facsimile of the _Tractatus de Causis et Indiciis Morborum_, attributed to Maimonides (Bodleian MS., Marsh 379) 225

ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT

SCIENTIFIC VIEWS AND VISIONS OF SAINT HILDEGARD

FIGURE PAGE

1. The Hildegard Country 3

2. Hildegard’s First Scheme of the Universe (slightly simplified from the Wiesbaden Codex B, fo. 14 _r_) 9

3. Hildegard’s Second Scheme of the Universe (reconstructed from her measurements) 29

4. Dante’s Scheme of the Universe (slightly modified from Michelangelo Caetani, duca di Sermoneta, _La materia della Divina Commedia di Dante Allighieri dichiarata in VI tavole_) 31

5. Diagram of the Zones (from Herrade de Landsberg, _Hortus deliciarum_) 40

6, 7. Melothesiae (from R. Fludd, _Historia utriusque cosmi_, 1619) 41

8. The Microcosm (from R. Fludd, _Philosophia sacra seu astrologia cosmica_, 1628) 42

9. Diagram illustrating the relationship of the Planets to the Brain (from Herrade de Landsberg, _Hortus deliciarum_) 48

A STUDY IN EARLY RENAISSANCE ANATOMY

1. The first printed picture of Dissection (from the French translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus, 1482) 80

2. Dissection Scene in the open air (Title-page of Mellerstadt’s edition of the _Anatomy_ of Mondino, 1493) 82

3. Dissection Scene (from the 1495 edition of ‘Ketham’) 83

4. The first picture of Dissection in an English-printed book (from the English translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus, printed by Wynkyn de Worde, 1495) 85

5. A Lecture on Anatomy (from the 1535 edition of Berengar of Carpi’s Commentary on Mondino) 85

6. Diagrams of the Internal Organs (after Bodleian MS. Ashmole 399, of about 1298) 88

7. A Female Figure laid open to show the Womb and other Organs (from the 1493 edition of ‘Ketham’) 91

8. The Abdominal Muscles (from Berengar of Carpi’s Commentary on Mondino, 1521) 96

9. The first printed Map of England (from the 1472(?) Bologna _Ptolemy_, edited by Manfredi and others) 100

10. Facsimile of the last page of Manfredi’s _Prognosticon ad annum 1479_ 102

11. Diagram showing the ten Layers of the Head, the Cerebral Ventricles and Cranial Nerves, and the Relation of the Nerves to the Senses (from M. Hundt, _Antropologium_, 1501) 112

12. The Layers of the Head (from the _Anatomia_ of Johannes Dryander, 1537) 112

13. Diagram showing the Ventricles of the Brain (from _Illustrissimi philosophi et theologi domini Alberti magni compendiosum insigne ac perutile opus Philosophiae naturalis_, 1496) 114

14. Diagram of the Senses, the Humours, the Cerebral Ventricles, and the Intellectual Faculties. To illustrate Roger Bacon, _De Scientia Perspectiva_, (British Museum MS. Sloane 2156, fo. 11 _r_) 116

15. Diagram illustrating the general ideas on Anatomy current at the Renaissance (from K. Peyligk. _Philosophiae naturalis compendium_, 1489) 116

16. Diagrams of the Cerebral Ventricles viewed from above and from the side (from K. Peyligk, _Philosophiae naturalis compendium_, 1489) 117

17. The Localization of Cerebral Functions (from the 1493 edition of ‘Ketham’) 117

18. Diagram of the Ventricles and the Senses, with their relation to the intellectual processes, according to the doctrine of the Renaissance anatomists (from G. Reisch, _Margarita philosophiae_, 1503) 117

19. The Anatomy of the Eye (from G. Reisch, _Margarita philosophiae_, 1503) 120

20. The Anatomy of the Eye (from Vesalius, _De humani corporis fabrica_, 1543) 121

21. The Heart (from the Roncioni MS., Pisa 99) 127

22. Diagram showing the two Lateral Ventricles and the ‘Central’ Ventricle, (from Johannes Adelphus, _Mundini de omnibus humani corporis interioribus menbris Anathomia_, 1513) 128

23. The Heart (from Hans von Gersdorff, _Feldt- und Stattbüch bewerter Wundartznei_, 1556) 129

DR. JOHN WEYER AND THE WITCH MANIA

Portrait of Dr. John Weyer at the age of 60, 1576 189

THE SCIENTIFIC VIEWS AND VISIONS OF SAINT HILDEGARD (1098-1180)

By Charles Singer

PAGE