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C:\Documents and Settings\lproctor.ULL\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\OLK36\Copyright - thesis.doc The Impact of Dutch Cartesian Medical Reformers in Early Enlightenment German Culture (1680-1720) Anette Henriette Munt University College London Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD, University o f London, 2004 UMI Number: U592582 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U592582 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Abstract This study analyses the reception and influence of Dutch Cartesian medical reformers in German culture during the Early Enlightenment period. The impact of their proposed reforms, involving the rejection of traditional Galenic-Aristotelian theory and practice, and placing medicine in an essentially new, mechanistic science- oriented Cartesian philosophical framework, is discussed in the context of the large number of German translations of their works, published often in several editions in various parts of Germany between the late 1680s and the early eighteenth century, and in relation to the wider context of social and cultural reform. The study opens with an examination of factors that facilitated the reception of Dutch medical ideas in Germany, such as the large number of German medical students studying in the Netherlands, the preponderant impact of the Dutch universities in the promotion of the ‘new’ philosophy and science during the second half of the seventeenth and early eighteenth century, and the presence of physicians trained in the Dutch universities at the medical faculties of German Protestant universities, and as court, city, and army physicians. Supporting evidence is also drawn from the massive impact of Dutch publishing on the German book market, the proliferation of periodicals, book reviews and book production in Germany aimed at the general public in the vernacular. It is argued that the translated works of Comelis Bontekoe, Steven Blankaart, Heidentryk Overkamp and their Cartesian followers intensified debates about medical theory and practice and the new life-style issues of tea and coffee drinking and tobacco-smoking and considerably influenced their adoption in society. The concerns voiced by translators and influential German medical scholars, including Friedrich Hoffmann, Georg Ernst Stahl and Albrecht von Haller, show that their iatrochemical mechanist conception of how to preserve health, prevent illness and prolong life, and their advocacy of a virtual abolition of blood-letting and purging, contributed to a change in people’s perceptions of illness and attitudes to health care in some sections of society, and exerted a far greater impact on German medicine than has so far been recognized. 2 Table\ of Contents Acknowledgments 5 Abbreviations 7 Introduction 8 I The Cultural and Institutional Context i) German Medical Students at Dutch Universities 17 ii) The Impact of Dutch Academic ‘New’ Philosophy 23 and Science on German Medical Thought iii) Cartesianism in German Medical Faculties 36 a) Konigsberg University 38 b) Duisburg University 42 c) Frankfurt on Oder University 47 d) Marburg University 49 e) Halle University 55 II Dutch Cartesian Medical Reformers i) Comelis Bontekoe 58 ii) Heydentryk Overkamp 74 iii) Steven Blankaart 78 iv) Dutch Cartesian Allies 83 v) Scientific Instruments 91 III Medicine and the Early Enlightenment in Germany i) Intellectual Trends 97 ii) The German Language Journals 108 iii) Private Libraries, Encyclopaedias and Lexicons 121 iv) Publishers, Advertising and the Book Trade 126 3 IV Translating Medical Reform i) The Vemacularization of Medicine 135 ii) Rationales for Translating Dutch Medical Books into German 137 iii) Suitability of the German Language for Science and Medicine 141 iv) Accuracy, Translation Quality and Manipulation of Texts 147 v) Controversial Strategies 151 Vi) Gehema - A medical Reform Publicist 157 vii) German and French Allies 165 V A ‘Right and Reliable Guide to Constant Health and a Long Life9 173 VI Tea, Coffee, Chocolate and Tobacco - the Controversies surrounding their Use as Health-Promoting Remedies i) ‘Reliable Thoughts’ on Tea, Coffee and Chocolate 189 ii) Sugar - the ‘Hypocritical Enemy’ 204 iii) ‘Clearly Discovered Innocence’ of Tea and Coffee 206 iv) Bontekoe - A ‘Curious Saint’ 208 v) A New Sociability 210 vi) Tobacco - A Universal Medicine 215 VII Blood-letting and Purging - ‘Cruel Medical Murder Methods9 i) Blood-Letting 223 ii) Purging - the ‘Noblest Form of Healing’ 242 Conclusion - A Medical Reform Programme? 253 Bibliography 259 4 Acknowledgements It has been a long way from the conception of this project to its completion which has benefited enormously from its initial supervision by Professor Jonathan Israel (Dutch History), formerly at University College London, and Professor Roy Porter (while still at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine). The history postgraduate seminars and history of medicine workshops, symposia, and occasional conferences I attended at University College London, the London Institute for Historical Research, and the Wellcome Institute, have introduced me to a wide range of historical and medical topics which have been hugely stimulating and rewarding. I am also grateful to Timothy McFarland of the German Department at UCL for supervising me during the later stages after the restructuring of my thesis, and for not giving up on me when the subject took still further turns. The part-time nature of my research presented a number of problems; I have therefore greatly appreciated the kindness and forbearance of my supervisors who allowed me to work at my own pace. That this project has been completed at all, is also thanks to some very special people whose kind encouragement has finally ‘quickned, and Midwifed into the world’ any ‘good Apprehensions’ I had on the subject. I first of all wish to thank Dr. Berkvens-Stevelinck whose perceptive comments, at the ‘Bookshop of the World’ conference in 1999, prompted me to develop a clearer concept of my project. I warmly thank Renee Gerson and Judith Pollmann for their support and for twice giving me the opportunity to introduce my ideas at the Low Countries Seminar of the IHR. I thank Reinier Salverda for inviting me to give a paper at the conference ‘The Bookshop of the World, A celebration of 500 years of printing and publishing in the Low Countries’ (organized by the British Library, the Wellcome Institute and University College London), later selected by Alastair Duke, Jacob Harskamp, and Theo Hermans for publication. I am grateful to them for their constructive advice, also on other occasions. I thank Jean Tsushima for enabling me to speak at the Huguenot and Walloon Research Association on ‘Aspects of Dutch medical education (1640-1700)’, and the Friends of the Iveagh Bequest at Kenwood where I spoke on ‘Medical Science and Art in the Dutch Golden Age’. 5 My very special thanks go to professors Martin Swales and Mary Fulbrook, and my friend and fellow student Philip Naylor for their stimulating and valuable advice at decisive turning points during my years at University College, to my close friends Anne Mansell and Marlies Mattem for their love, interest and support throughout, to my daughter Claire for her understanding, especially during this last year, and most of all to Jonathan, my true companion in every way. I have been financially supported by a five-year (part time) grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Board covering my tuition fees. The research for this study was carried out at various libraries in London, especially the British Library and the Wellcome Library, as well as libraries in Amsterdam, The Hague, Leiden, Wolfenbiittel, Gottingen, Jena, Berlin, Wroclaw (Breslau) and Krakow/Poland.