Joan Baptista Van Helmont: Reformer of Science and Medicine (Cambridge Studies in the History of Medicine) - Softcover

Pagel, Walter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521526558 ISBN 13: 9780521526555

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2002

Synopsis

Only comparatively recently have historians begun to recognize the importance and influence of Joan Baptista Van Helmont (1579-1644) in the history of medicine and chemistry. Van Helmont's theories on the nature of life, biological time, physiology and disease, the structure of matter, and the processes of chemical change are veiled in his writings by a brand of Renaissance mysticism. His organic conception of the natural world, together with his belief in alchemy and astral forces, has resulted in a predominantly unsympathetic attitude among historians of science, by whom he is generally regarded as purveying an unpalatable and inherently 'un-scientific' amalgam of medicine and philosophy. Dr Pagel now demonstrates that by painstaking analysis it is possible to appreciate the creative insights of a figure like Van Helmont. His book is a model of its kind, and is the culmination of many years of reflection on the topics discussed.

About this title

Book Description:

Van Helmont's theories on the nature of life, biological time, physiology and disease, the structure of matter, and the processes of chemical change are rendered obscure by Renaissance his tendency to mysticism. This intellectual biography, the culmination of many years of reflection on the topics discusses, illuminates Van Helmont's creative insights.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0521526558
• ISBN 13: 9780521526555
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 232