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'I 70-22,993 KIDWELL, Clara Sue, 1941- THE ACCADEMIA DEI LINCEI AND THE APIARIUM: A CASE STUDY OF THE ACTIVITIES OF A SEVENTEENTH CENTURY SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. The University of Oklahoma, Ph.D., 1970 History, modern f University Microfilms, A XBVDC Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan ' Copyrighted by 1 9 7 0 THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE THE ACCADEMIA DEI LINCEI AND THE APIARIUM; A CASE STUDY OF THE ACTIVITIES OF A SEVENTEENTH CENTURY SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY CLARA SUE KIDWELL Norman, Oklahoma 1970 THE ACCADEMIA DEI LINCEI AND THE APIARIUM: A CASE STUDY OF THE ACTIVITIES OF A SEVENTEENTH CENTURY SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY APPROVED BY 13- ^zJÎ nÂÿZ" • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to acknowledge the aid of the members of my dissertation committee; Dr. David B. Kitts, David Ross Boyd Professor of Geology, Dr. Philip Nolan, Professor of Classics, Dr. David B. Wilson, Assistant Professor of the History of Science, and Dr. Kenneth L. Taylor, Assistant Professor of the History of Science. Their comments and criticisms have been most helpful. % special thanks goes to the chairman of my committee. Dr. Thomas M. Smith, Professor the History of Science, without whose aid and encouragement this dissertation could not have been completed. I must also thank Dr. Duane H. D. Roller, McCasland Professor of the History of Science for his encouragement and support. This dissertation is the result of graduate study supported by a National Defense Education Act Title IV Fellowship and a John Hay Whitney Foundation Opportunity Fellowship,. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Chapter I. INTRODUCTION................................ 1 II. THE ACCADEMIA DEI LINCEI; ACTIVITIES FROM 1603 TO 1609 .............................. 6 III. ORGANIZATION, MEMBERSHIP AND ACTIVITIES OF THE ACCADEMIA DEI LINCEI FROM 1610 TO 1630 ....... 32 IV. FEDERICO CESI AND GALILEO GALILEI.............. 60 V. THE APIARIUM................................ 77 VI. CONCLUSION: THE APIARIUM AND THE ACCADEMIA DEI L I N C E I .................................. 113 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........ 120 Appendix I. NOTES CONCERNING THE PLATE OF DRAWINGS AND THE ORGANIZATION OF THE TEXT OF THE APIARIUM .... 133 II. APIARIUM........ H I III. AUTHORS CITED BY CESI. ........ ......... 308 iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Page The Apiarluin; Text................................... 90 The Apiarlum : Drawings............................... 91 Drawings from the Satires of Persius................ 104 THE ACCADEMIA DEI LINCEI AND THE APIARIUM; A CASE STUDY OF THE ACTIVITIES OF A SEVENTEENTH CENTURY SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION In 1625 an Italian nobleman, Prince Federico Cesi (1585-1630) wrote a treatise on bees, which was appropriately entitled Apiarium.^ Tlie work, which enjoyed only a limited circulation and which remained relatively obscure in its own time, is today very rare and still rela tively obscure. It has acquired its historical reputation because it is considered the first published work which records observations made with a microscope.2 There are, however, larger implications in the -Federico Cesi, Apiarium ex frontispiciis naturalis theatri Principis Federici Caesii Lyncei S. Angeli et S. Poll princ. I. March. M. Caelii. II. G. C. Baron. Roman, depromptum, quo universa mell- ficium famllla ab suis prae-generibus derivata in suas species ac dlf- ferentias dlstributa in physicum conspectum addicitur (Rome: Ex typo graphic lacobi Mascardi, 1625). ^Victor Carus, Histoire de la zoologie depuis l ’antiquité Jusqu'au XJXs slcCle, trans. P.-O. Ilageranuller (Paris: Librairie J.-B. Bailli'ere et Fils, I88O), p. 310; R. Taton, Reason and Chance in Scientific Discovery, trans. A. J. Pomerans (New York: Philosophical Library, 1957), p. 6I; Erik Nordenskiold, The History of Biology, trans. Leonard Bucknall Eyre (New York: Tudor Publishing Co., 19^9),pp. 158- 59; Charles Singer, "The Earliest Figures of Microscopic Objects," Endeavor. XII (October, 1953), 198; A. Schierbeek and Maria Rooseboom, Measuring the Invisible World: The Life and Works of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek F.R.S. (London: Abelard-Schuman, 1959), p. ^3. 2 existence of this work beyond the mere opinion of a historical "first.'* It may be used to obtain Insight into the activities of the Accademia dei Lincei, a scientific society founded by Prince Cesi which, like the Apiarium. has acquired its greatest historical reputation as the first of its kind— the first modern scientific society.^ Italy, during the early seventeenth century, saw the birth of a number of societies of learned men: the Lunatic! of Naples, the Umidi, the Scamposti, and the Otlosi, as the members of Giambattista Della Porta's Academia Secretorum Naturae were called.^ These societies arose, according to Santillana, because of the "sterility of the uni versities, the inadequacy of their curriculum, and the resistance of official scholarship to the new ideas."5 According to Ornstein the universities offered no opportunities to men in the field of science. It would thus seem from the slight progress of the univer sities along lines of experimental science, from the fact that the greatest scientists of the age were not affiliated with them, from the many criticisms leveled agMnat them', and from actual evidences of thslr conservatism, extending even into the eigh teenth century, that the universities in the seventeenth century did not lend to science that encouragement which it needed in order to take root in them. %[rancls] S[torr], "Academies," Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed.. I, 99; R. Morghen, "The Academy of the Lincei and Galileo Galilei," Cahiers d'histoire mondiale. VII, Part 2 (1963), 365-66; Fabio Colonna, Fabi Columnae Lyncei $YTO&AZANO% cui accessit vita Fabi et Lynceorum notitla adnotationesQue in $YT06AZANON lano Planco Arimlnensi auctore et in Senensi academia'anatooss publico professors ^Florence: I. P. Aere, & Typls Petri Caietani Viviani, 174%), p. xiv. ^S[torr], pp. 99, 102. ^Giorgio de Santillana, The■Crime of Galileo (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1955), p. 2^. ^Martha Ornstein, The"R61e of Scientific Societies in the Seventeenth Century (Chicago;- The University of Chicago Press, 1938), p. 259. 3 It was, therefore, in the new scientific societies and the soci eties of learned men that the theories of science were most often set forth and its practice undertaken. Ornstein provides a statement of the characteristics and functions of the scientific societies, saying that their every activity was devoted to fostering the cause of experimental science. She epitomizes their efforts as follows: The societies concentrated considerable groups of scientists, performed experiments and investigations impossible to individual effort, encouraged individual scientists and gave them both op portunity and leisure, often through financial support, for scien tific work. Ttiey became centers of scientific information, pub lished and translated scientific books, promulgated periodically scientific discoveries, and thus co-ordinated the scientific efforts of the various progressive European countries.? Ttie learned societies of Italy, coming into being to fulfill needs not met by the universities of the time, sought to serve their role by fostering communication, by lending their moral, and in the case of Cesi's Lincei, financial support to the cause of learning, and by encouraging the freedom of expression. Tlie Praescriptiones, an epitome of Cesi's constitution for the Lincei, stated the goals of the group. In sapientiae autem pio semper, & in Dei Optimi Maximi laudes studio, observationi Primum, & contemplâtioni, post scriptioni, ac inde tandem editioni incumbendum: neque enim recitationibus, declamationibus, aut cathedralibus disceptationibus vacare Lynce^ erit instituti non etiam frequenter, & numérose convenire ?Ibid., pp. 259-60. ®D. Baldassare Odescalchi, Memorie Istorico critiche dell'Acca demia de'Lincei' e del Principe Federico Cesi Secondo Duca d'Acquasparta fondatore e principe della medesima raccolte e scritta da D. Baldassare Odescalchi Duca di Ceri (Rome: Nella Stamperia di Luigi Perego Salvioni, 1806), p. 309. "Always in the virtue of wisdom, and in the desire of praising the best and greatest God, [there are] first observations, and contemplations, then writing, and finally editions of books: the 4 Tlie Accademia, therefore, in its stated intent had many of the charac teristics which Ornstein assigns to scientific societies. It encouraged study and publication, and through its publications it aided the dis semination of scientific knowledge in the seventeenth century. It encouraged the efforts of its individual members, but it also fostered joint efforts by its members. An outstanding example of the coopera tive efforts of part of the group is the Rerum medicarum, a work on the flora and fauna of the New World.^ Through the financial assistance of Cesi and the support of his fellow Lincei, two of Galileo Galilei's most important books were published. Kie Apiarium is an example of the work done by members of the Lincei, and particularly Cesi, both in championing the cause of freedom [Accademia dei] Lincei was founded not for recitations, declamations or learned debates, nor even for frequent and numerous gatherings. ...” ^Francisco Hernandez, Rerum medicarum novae Hispaniae thesaurus seu plantarum animalium mineralium Mexicanorum historia ex Francisoi Hernandi