DOCSLIB.ORG

Patterns of Congruence and Divergence Among 18Th Century Chemical Affinity Theories

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Patterns of Congruence and Divergence Among 18Th Century Chemical Affinity Theories VARIATIONS ON A THEME: PATTERNS OF CONGRUENCE AND DIVERGENCE AMONG 18TH CENTURY CHEMICAL AFFINITY THEORIES Georgette Nicola Lewis Taylor University College London Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Science and Technology Studies University College London August 2006 1 I, Georgette Nicola Lewis Taylor, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 2 Acknowledgements This study could not have been completed without a great deal of help and support. First in the list of thanks must be my supervisor, Dr Hasok Chang at UCL. Our regular meetings over the past five years, together with his readiness to listen to my ideas and to rigorously press me to clarify my thoughts have been invaluable. I am eternally grateful to him for offering me the opportunity to study at UCL and for teaching me more than I can ever put into coherent words. I must also acknowledge with thanks the funding provided by the AHRB/C, without which the work would not have been possible. Other scholars have also assisted in the process, and I must thank all the staff of UCL’s Science and Technology Studies department, and in particular all those who have read my various writings along the way. Thanks also to Professor Simon Schaffer at HPS in Cambridge for reading my work and taking the time to offer his invaluable advice. Also to Dr Matthew Eddy at Durham, whose help and advice has been of great assistance over the years. Also to Dr John Crellin, Professor Alan Chalmers, Dr Ursula Klein, Dr Arthur Donovan, Professor Bill Brock, Dr David Kaiser and Dr Mimi Kim, all of whom have responded to calls for help at one time or another. Grateful thanks also to the family of Dr Alistair Duncan, and particularly his son George, who very kindly went through his father’s papers to dig out a bundle of papers on affinity. The staff at a variety of libraries have kindly allowed me access to a number of wonder manuscripts, and I must thank in particular the staff of the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine, Glasgow University Library, Edinburgh University Library, the Library of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, Kings College Library, the library of the Royal College of Physicians, London, Gonville and Caius Library, Cambridge and Trinity College Library, Cambridge. Finally, personal thanks to a list of people who supported me constantly in my extension of my ‘hobby’ to a level never dreamed of when I began. Firstly to 3 the Open University, which got me back into the habit of study after too many years away. In particular my first course tutor, Toni Clarke who has encouraged me now for over ten years. Next to Charles Russell. A law firm might seem an odd appearance in this list, but their support (both as a firm and via individuals too numerous to list) throughout both my Open University endeavours and this PhD study has been enlightened and essential. My brother Dr Fabian Ironside must be thanked for his advice and for listening, and my parents for their love and support throughout. Also love and thanks to Robbie Taylor and ‘Bug’ Taylor for their valuable assistance and for keeping me sane. My husband Alastair Taylor deserves a paragraph of his own. His belief in me and his love and support have never failed, and I owe him more than I can ever say. Without his constant encouragement and faith this study would neither have been started nor finished. There really is nothing else to say. 4 Abstract The doctrine of affinity deserves to be recognised by historians of chemistry as the foundational basis of the discipline of chemistry as it was practiced in Britain during the 18th century. It attained this status through its crucial structural role in the pedagogy of the discipline. The importance of pedagogy and training in the practice of science is currently being reassessed by a number of historians, and my research contributes to this historiographical endeavour. My analysis of the variety of theories sheltered under the umbrella term ‘affinity theory’ has emphasised the role of pedagogy in influencing both the structure and the content of knowledge. I have shown that there were wide ranging discrepancies between many of the components of individual affinity theories. Nevertheless, the scope of divergence was limited. This underlying organisation resulted from the unifying hub of affinity theory, the logical common ground. This was the essence of the doctrine of affinity, encompassing the law of affinity and the conceptualisation of the table that brought together the relations described in the law. The doctrine of affinity thus provided a disciplinary common ground between chemists, providing a mediating level of understanding and communication for all those who subscribed to the doctrine of affinity, in spite of their detailed differences. 5 VARIATIONS ON A THEME: PATTERNS OF CONGRUENCE AND DIVERGENCE AMONG 18TH CENTURY CHEMICAL AFFINITY THEORIES ................................................................................................1 1. ‘MANUFACTURING A THEORY’: THE DOCTRINE OF AFFINITY IN 18TH CENTURY CHEMISTRY.....................................8 1.1 Introduction..................................................................................................................................8 1.2 Some Preliminary notes about Language ..................................................................................9 1.2.1 ‘Affinity’ .............................................................................................................................9 1.2.2 ‘Chemists’ .........................................................................................................................10 1.3 The Historiography of Affinity .................................................................................................11 1.4 ‘Manufacturing’ a Theory: Methodology................................................................................25 1.5 The Plan ......................................................................................................................................33 2. AFFINITY: A TRUE AND ACCURATE HISTORY OF THE SCIENCE AS PRACTISED BY THE PHILOSOPHERS OF THE BRITISH ISLES ......................................................................................34 2.1 The Cast (in order of appearance)............................................................................................34 2.2 Prologue: Pedagogical Experimentations and Philosophical Investigations.........................38 2.3 Act 1: In Which a Frenchman builds a Table, and the Natural Philosophers of Britain Pay it no Heed ...............................................................................................................41 2.4 Act 2: In which a Pedagogical Tool is Constituted and it is Discovered to beget the Great and Distinguishing Principle of the Science ..................................................................55 2.5 Interlude: In Which a Swede builds a Bigger Table ...............................................................80 2.6 Act 3: Attempts by some Ingenious Chemists to Bring a Scientific Precision to the Pedagogical Tool that was Proving of such Great Utility.......................................................82 2.7 Epilogue: The Pedagogical Pyramid: Those who can …........................................................90 3. “THO’ ALL THINGS DIFFER, ALL AGREE” –VARIETY AND CONFORMITY WITHIN FUNCTIONAL COMPONENT-TYPES.95 3.1 Concepts of Substance Identity.................................................................................................98 3.1.1 Correspondences and Divergences: Elements, Principles and Affinity.............................99 3.1.2 Identity and Recognition: The Specific Character of the Chemical Substance ...............112 3.2 Concepts of Combination ........................................................................................................126 3.2.1 Complexity: The Epistemology of Combination.............................................................126 3.2.2 Modification: Combination as an Agent of Change........................................................135 3.2.3 Mechanism: How does Combination take place?............................................................141 6 3.3 Concepts of Order....................................................................................................................150 3.3.1 Relativity: The Methodology of Order............................................................................151 3.3.2 George Fordyce’s “On Compound Elective Attractions” ...............................................160 3.3.3 Quantification: Richard Kirwan’s Saturation Proportions...............................................169 3.4 Conclusion: Diversity and Affinity .........................................................................................183 4. HEAT: WORK IN PROGRESS ..........................................................187 4.1 The Paradox of Heat: Promoting Combination and Separation .........................................191 4.1.1 Destroyer of Affinity.......................................................................................................192 4.1.2 Increasing Affinity ..........................................................................................................198 4.2 Chemical Generation of Heat and Cold .................................................................................211
Load more

Recommended publications
  • William Withering and the Introduction of Digitalis Into Medical Practice
    [From Schenckius: Observationum Medicarum, Francofurti, 1609.] ANNALS OF MEDICAL HISTORY New Series , Volume VIII May , 1936 Numbe r 3 WILLIAM WITHERING AND THE INTRODUCTION OF DIGITALIS INTO MEDICAL PRACTICE By LOUIS H. RODDIS, COMMANDER, M.C., U.S.N. WASHINGTON, D. C. Part II* N interesting fea- as Dr. Fulton points out, there is no ture regarding the question that Darwin received his first early use of digi- acquaintancewithdigitalis from Wither- talis and the ques- ing. The evidence is indisputable as tion of the priority Withering himself cites the case (No. of Withering in its iv, M iss Hill) and says that Darwin was discovery, has been his consultant. Darwin mentions the brought out by case in his commonplace book but Professor John F. Fulton of Yale Uni- neither there nor in his published ac- versity School of Medicine. He has counts does he mention Withering’s shown that Erasmus Darwin, in an ap- name. His relations with Withering are pendix to the graduation thesis of his shown by some of his letters to have son Charles, which he published in been very unfriendly, at least after 1780, two years after Charles’ death. 1788, and he was probably jealous of gave some account of the use of fox- him. By our present standards Darwin’s glove with several case histories. March conduct in not mentioning Withering 16. 1785, Erasmus Darwin read a paper in either of his papers was distinctly which was dated January 14, 1785, and uncthical. which was published in the medical As he became more prosperous With- transactions, containing a reference to ering purchased a valuable piece of foxglove.
    [Show full text]
  • The Lunar Society of Birmingham and the Practice of Science in 18Th Century Great Britain
    Union College Union | Digital Works Honors Theses Student Work 6-2011 The unL ar Society of Birmingham and the Practice of Science in 18th Century Great Britain Scott H. Zurawel Union College - Schenectady, NY Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses Part of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Commons Recommended Citation Zurawel, Scott H., "The unL ar Society of Birmingham and the Practice of Science in 18th Century Great Britain" (2011). Honors Theses. 1092. https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses/1092 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Work at Union | Digital Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Union | Digital Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. i THE LUNAR SOCIETY OF BIRMINGHAM AND THE PRACTICE OF SCIENCE IN 18TH CENTURY GREAT BRITAIN: A STUDY OF JOSPEH PRIESTLEY, JAMES WATT AND WILLIAM WITHERING By Scott Henry Zurawel ******* Submitted in partial fulfillment Of the requirements for Honors in the Department of History UNION COLLEGE March, 2011 ii ABSTRACT Zurawel, Scott The Lunar Society of Birmingham and the Practice of Science in Eighteenth-Century Great Britain: A Study of Joseph Priestley, James Watt, and William Withering This thesis examines the scientific and technological advancements facilitated by members of the Lunar Society of Birmingham in eighteenth-century Britain. The study relies on a number of primary sources, which range from the regular correspondence of its members to their various published scientific works. The secondary sources used for this project range from comprehensive books about the society as a whole to sources concentrating on particular members.
    [Show full text]
  • Soho Depicted: Prints, Drawings and Watercolours of Matthew Boulton, His Manufactory and Estate, 1760-1809
    SOHO DEPICTED: PRINTS, DRAWINGS AND WATERCOLOURS OF MATTHEW BOULTON, HIS MANUFACTORY AND ESTATE, 1760-1809 by VALERIE ANN LOGGIE A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of History of Art College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham January 2011 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT This thesis explores the ways in which the industrialist Matthew Boulton (1728-1809) used images of his manufactory and of himself to help develop what would now be considered a ‘brand’. The argument draws heavily on archival research into the commissioning process, authorship and reception of these depictions. Such information is rarely available when studying prints and allows consideration of these images in a new light but also contributes to a wider debate on British eighteenth-century print culture. The first chapter argues that Boulton used images to convey messages about the output of his businesses, to draw together a diverse range of products and associate them with one site. Chapter two explores the setting of the manufactory and the surrounding estate, outlining Boulton’s motivation for creating the parkland and considering the ways in which it was depicted.
    [Show full text]
  • James Keir (1735-1820) a Renaissance Man of the Industrial Revolution
    JAMES KEIR (1735-1820) A RENAISSANCE MAN OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION Kristen M. Schranz James Keir is best remembered as a chemist and industrialist, but he was also an author, translator, geologist, metallurgist, and military captain. He was born in Stirlingshire, Scotland on 29 September 1735 and the last of eighteen children born to John Keir (1686-1743) and Magdaline Lind (1691-1775). Both the Keir and Lind families had considerable wealth and were influential in Edinburgh politics. John served in various capacities on the Town Council before he died in 1743 and Magdaline sold the family estates of Muirton and Queenshaugh to care for her large family, including James who was just eight years old. After studying at the High School in Edinburgh (1742-8), Keir took classes in medicine and chemistry at the University of Edinburgh (1754-7), where Andrew Plummer probably instructed him in practical chemistry. During his tenure at university, Keir also became acquainted with Erasmus Darwin. Their friendship flourished through correspondence, even when Keir left Edinburgh without finishing his degree to join the West Indies militia in 1757. Military Career During his service abroad, Keir maintained his scholarly pursuits. He awoke early each morning to read from the classics and to translate the Greek military historian, Polybius. In 1790, he published An Essay on the Martial Character of Nations. Another forthcoming text, A Dictionary of the Art of War, was advertised that same year but was unfortunately burned at the publisher’s shop. When England was under threat by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1803, Keir again took up his pen to write Reflexions on the Invasion of Great-Britain by the French Armies.
    [Show full text]
  • Mary Shepherd and the Causal Relation
    Mary Shepherd and the Causal Relation The 3rd Earl of Rosebery with his family outside of Barnbougle Castle. Painted by Alexander Nasmyth in 1788. Mary Primrose is second from the right. Jennifer McRobert © 2002 Jennifer McRobert (revised February 2014) Author’s note: This manuscript was written a dozen years ago and then set aside. In February 2014, the text was lightly edited to eliminate some typos and to improve readability. There is no new research here, but the material may be of use to historians and others interested in early modern women philosophers. Contents Preface 5 Part One 7 1 God and the King: The Primrose Ancestry 8 2 A Childhood in Dalmeny 18 3 Hume and the Limits of Moderation 32 4 London, Marriage and Society 44 5 Causality and the Revolutionary Lens 54 Bibliography 66 Preface Lady Mary Shepherd (1777-1847) was born Mary Primrose, on 31 December 1777. The daughter of an Earl, she grew up on an estate near Edinburgh during the Scottish Enlightenment. Mary Shepherd's life and work were shaped in important ways by the philosophical and political controversies that arose in connection with David Hume and his philosophy. In particular, she was strongly motivated to refute the `erroneous notions’ of cause and effect advanced by Hume and his followers, which she viewed as leading to scepticism and atheism: When she undertook a public refutation of these erroneous notions of cause and effect, it must be remembered it was at a time when they were most rampant and widely spread over the northern parts of Britain in particular.
    [Show full text]
  • Gas and Poetry: Humphry Davy in Bristol, 1798-1801
    1 17 September 2019 Gas and Poetry: Humphry Davy in Bristol, 1798-1801 Frank A.J.L. James University College London* http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0499-9291 This paper is a contribution, historically grounded, to current discussions about how best to understand the relations of science and literature as cultural and social practices. It examines, in some detail, Humphry Davy’s activities during the two and a half years, from the autumn of 1798 to the spring of 1801, that he worked at Thomas Beddoes’s Medical Pneumatic Institution in Bristol. The loose and ever- changing circle of creative individuals who formed around Beddoes and his Institution involved a formidable array of savants including members of the Watt and Wedgwood families as well as Romantics such as Southey, Coleridge and Wordsworth. The micro-chronological approach adopted here reveals the importance of print culture and sociability in the production of texts and knowledge, as well as the striking number and variety of projects proposed by the circle that never came to fruition. Nevertheless, those successful projects, such as Davy’s work on nitrous oxide and the second edition of Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads, contributed to making this period one of the key moments in English cultural history. Keywords: Humphry Davy, Thomas Beddoes, Robert Southey, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, Bristol, the Medical Pneumatic Institution, Jacobin Politics, Nitrous * Department of Science and Technology Studies, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, England; The Royal Institution, 21 Albemarle Street, London, W1S 4BS, England. E-mail: [email protected]. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the “Robert Southey and Romantic-era literature, culture and science: 1797, 1817, a Bicentennial Conference” held during April 2016 in Clifton.
    [Show full text]
  • Microbial Flora of Rum Fermentation Media
    Journal of Applied Microbiology 1998, 84, 921–928 A REVIEW Microbial flora of rum fermentation media L. Fahrasmane and B. Ganou-Parfait I.N.R.A. Station de Technologie des Produits Ve´ge´taux, Pointe a` Pitre cedex, France (F.W.I.) 6171/04/97: received 2 April 1997, revised 17 July 1997 and accepted 31 July 1997 1. Introduction, 921 4.1.2 Molasses, 926 2. Rum technology evolution and microbiology, 921 4.1.3 Dilution waters, 926 3. Yeasts in rum production 4.1.4 Slops, 926 3.1 Evolution of the yeast flora, 923 4.2 Dynamics and control of the bacterial flora, 3.2 Prospects, 924 926 4. Bacterial flora 5. Conclusion, 927 4.1 Origin and nature of the bacterial flora, 924 6. References, 927 4.1.1 Cane juice, 926 —––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 1. INTRODUCTION etc.) may be detrimental to the organoleptic properties of the rum and be a source of unwanted specific toxicity. Rum is the alcoholic beverage made exclusively from sugar Rum fermentation media containing yeast and bacterial cane (Saccharum officinarum L.) juice and its by-products flora of the ‘wild’ type are natural ecosystems giving rise to (molasses from the manufacture of cane sugar or syrups). flavours in the rum, so that it possesses distinctive features The first stage of rum-making is an alcoholic fermentation of linked to the local natural environment. musts made of raw materials diluted with water. The fer- In the present study carried out on Guadeloupe, Mar- mented media are then distilled. The distillates are matured tinique and Haiti, a list was established of the microbial flora for a few days up to several years in tanks, wooden vats of molasses or cane sugar-based fermentation media, while the or oak casks, before being reduced, by water dilution, to a dynamics of the bacterial population during the fermentation commercial alcoholic strength (Fahrasmane et al.
    [Show full text]
  • How Hume Became a Sceptic
    2005 How Hume Became a Sceptic c Jennifer McRobert Contents Preface 3 Introduction 11 1 Reading Hume's Treatise 12 2 The Hume Affair 29 3 The First Enquiry 42 4 Hume and the Revolutionary Lens 63 5 Dangerous Philosophy 77 6 Edinburgh Debates the Causal Relation 92 7 Spurious Connections 111 8 The Treatise Revisited 122 9 How Hume Became a Sceptic 139 Postscript 152 Appendix 172 Notes 227 Bibliography 241 2 Preface This book tells the story of how Edinburgh philosopher, David Hume, author of one of the most important works in the history of Western philosophy, became a sceptic. The account, which begins with the 1739-40 publication of A Treatise of Human Nature, draws together two plausible, but quite different, perspectives on Hume and his philosophy. One of these perspectives is philosophical; the other historical. Considered independently, neither gets at the whole of the truth. However, when taken together, the two perspectives yield a rich account of the development of Hume's philosophy and reputation that merits our careful consideration. The first account is that Hume earned his reputation as a sceptic when he wrote and published, in 1739-40, A Treatise of Human Nature. This book, so it was claimed, rejected widely accepted tenets of metaphysics. Book I, Part IV, for example, treats of scepticism with regard to reason and the senses. There, Hume questions the presuppositions that reason supplies a foundation for causal belief, that the senses give rise to notions of independent, continued, external existences, that the soul is immaterial, and so on.
    [Show full text]
  • John Grieve's Correspondence with Joseph Black and Some Contemporaneous Russo-Scottish Medical Intercommunication
    Medical History, 1985, 29: 401-413 JOHN GRIEVE'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH JOSEPH BLACK AND SOME CONTEMPORANEOUS RUSSO-SCOTTISH MEDICAL INTERCOMMUNICATION by JOHN H. APPLEBY* On 28 January 1783, Joseph Black, professor of medicine and chemistry at Edinburgh Univeristy, and William Robertson, its principal, were elected honorary foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In May of that year, John Grieve, a Scottish doctor returning to Britain from service with the Russian army, wrote from Riga, as "a scholar to his old master", to inform Black of arrangements for delivering the Academy's diploma, which he conveyed as far as London.' To understand the context of their subsequent correspondence and the development of Russo-Scottish medical intercommunication, a brief outline of relevant contacts between the two countries is necessary. In July 1762, a revolution occurred in Russia: Peter III, the feeble-minded tsar, was murdered at the instigation of his wife Catherine, who succeeded to the throne. Scottish doctors, through introductions and family connexions, had made their presence strongly felt in Russian medical life. One of them, James Mounsey, the late tsar's senior physician and director ofthe country's entire medical services, prudently chose to retire to Scotland at this juncture, on health grounds. Evidently, the situation had soon stabilized, for in September 1766, John Rogerson, whose mother was Mounsey's half-sister, arrived in Russia recommended by Mounsey. Licensed to practise, Rogerson was appointed court physician in 1769. In the next year, John Robison, relinquishing his lectureship in chemistry at Glasgow University, accompanied Admiral Sir Charles Knowles to Russia, to take up a post at the Imperial Sea Cadet Corps of Nobles-possibly escorted by another Scottish doctor, Matthew Guthrie, who was returning to St Petersburg with an MD diploma from St Andrews University.
    [Show full text]
  • The Apothecary As Man of Science
    Iv THE APOTHECARY AS MAN OF SCIENCE INTRODUCTION The development and use of rational scientific methods was well established by the mid-seventeenth century. The collection of data and the systematic arrangement of ideas, the application of mathematics and sound reasoning, and, above all, the experi- mental testing of hypotheses, advocated by men of the calibre of Johan Kepler (1571-1630), Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), Francis Bacon (1561-1626), and Rene Descartes (1596-1650) were, by the time of the Commonwealth, accepted roads to the advancement of knowledge. A new intellectual outlook had evolved, as noted by John Aubrey (1626-97) in 1671, "Till about the year 1649 'twas held a strange presumption for a man to attempt an innovation of learning". The English apothecary was, of course, much influenced by these changes. He developed methods of inquiry and investigation, he experimented, he joined societies, he wrote to like-minded contemporaries, he published his findings, and, above all, he had the good fortune to be caught in the toils of collectors' mania, be it "curiosities" or new information. The apothecary had a particular interest in those fields that most closely impinged upon his own profession - botany, chemistry, and medicine. Although considerable advances in the description and classification of plants and animals had been made by 1760, no great theoretical principles or "laws" of biology had been developed. It should be noted, though, that the generation of scientists arriv- ing on the scene after 1760 was able to study an immensely richer collection of natural history specimens from distant lands, which helped towards developing new interpretations of Nature based on sounder doctrines.
    [Show full text]
  • The Patent Specification the Role of Liardet V Johnson
    The Journal of Legal History ISSN: 0144-0365 (Print) 1744-0564 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/flgh20 The patent specification the role of Liardet v Johnson John N. Adams & Gwen Averley To cite this article: John N. Adams & Gwen Averley (1986) The patent specification the role of Liardet v Johnson, The Journal of Legal History, 7:2, 156-177, DOI: 10.1080/01440368608530862 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01440368608530862 Published online: 30 Jul 2007. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 148 View related articles Citing articles: 4 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=flgh20 Download by: [University of Western Ontario] Date: 14 March 2017, At: 12:57 The Patent Specification The Role of Liardet v Johnson JOHN N. ADAMS* and GWEN AVERLEY** Introduction Little work has been done on the history of patent law in the eighteenth century since the pioneering articles of Wyndham Hulme and Seaborne Davies, the most recent of which is now over fifty years old.1 Holdsworth relied heavily on this work.2 Hulme took the view that Mansfield's decision in Liardet v Johnson (1778)2a was crucial to the development of the modern law. He believed that the law took a wrong turning at that point. Under the old practice the test of novelty was whether or not the invention had already been used and worked in the realm. Under the 'new' practice, the test was whether a prior disclosure in any form had been made.
    [Show full text]
  • The Medical Collections: the Leaves of Life
    University of Aberdeen Special Libraries and Archives The Medical Collections: The Leaves of Life Hortus Sanitatis, Man mixing drugs, (Mainz: Meydenbach, 1491). Inc 3 An Information Document University of Aberdeen Development Trust King’s College Aberdeen Scotland, UK AB24 3FX t. +44 (0) 1224 272097 f. +44 (0) 1224 272271 www.abdn.ac.uk/devtrust/ King’s College Foundation Book, (1514). MSK 1, p.48 King’s College, Aberdeen (established 1495), Robert Gray, Mediciner from 1522 to the 1550s. was the first English-speaking university to teach In his hand we also have notes of medical prepa- medicine. Thus, the University has been involved rations, such as parsley and camomile being in medical teaching and collecting medical books, used for the treatment of gallstones. papers, and material objects for over five hun- dred years. It has also long been associated with Other 15th century holdings include a 1462 copy major medical advances and discoveries. of Bernard de Gordon’s Lilium Medicinae1, medi- cal notes by an Aberdonian student at Paris2, From its beginning, the University taught Medi- and a 1469 partial manuscript of the great Ara- cine as well as Theology, Law and Arts. The bian physician and philosopher Avicenna’s King’s College Foundation Book provides for a Canon3, as copied by a Scottish scribe. Among Doctor in Medicine to have a house and garden the early donations to the library of King’s Col- and a salary of £12 and six shillings per annum. lege is a magnificent folio of Avicenna, printed at Significantly, he was to be clothed like the medi- Venice — that is, at the confluence of east and cal doctors of the University of Paris, then the west — in 1544.
    [Show full text]