Their questioning of ancient element theory was to call into question the whole framework of ancient natural philosophy and medicine. They interpreted the account of God's Creation in Genesis as an alchemical separation and they presented their three chemical principles, salt, sulphur and mercury, as a new approach to the elements. The Paracelsians sought truth in Nature through fresh observations and they were convinced that chemistry - through the intelligent use of the fire - would be the best guide to this knowledge. They scorned the reading of the books of the ancient philosophers and saw truth primarily in the two books of Divine Revelation, the Bible and the Book of Creation or Nature. They saw little value in disputations or the study of logic and they sought an alternative to the four elements in Natural Philosophy and their attendant humors in medicine. Paracelsus had burned the Canon of Avicenna publically in 1527 at Basel and his followers rejected the Aristotelian-Galenic tradition of the universities. The Chemical Philosophy : Paracelsian Science and Medicine in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Ģ vols., New York: Science History Publications, 1977), passim, and especially, 1, pp. ) The following short account of the Chemical Philosophy is based largely on my own research which is brought together in The followers of the Swiss-German reformer Paracelsus (1493-1541) had seen in chemistry - and alchemy - a new foundation for learning ( 2 2 The chemistry courses met, in fact, with unexpected success, and no place in the Hall turned out to be large enough to accomodate the crowd of students interested. The college was forced to admit the new professor examination-fees were put ap. He should automatically have become a member of the Inner College, but the Faculty refused him a place, and the governor had to send a special delegate to Louvain to complete the business. One de Renault was then appointed on 12 September 1685. Moreover, the Faculty said, if the government did decide to go ahead with a fifth Chair, it must give a stipend including examination-fees.
Liber physicus robert fludd full#
In 1685, when the Council of State sought the Faculty's opinion as to whether a Chair of Chemistry should be established, many reasons were quoted in opposition to the plan: chemistry was already being taught, in part by the existing professors the timetable was full enough as it was, premises and furnaces for chemical studies would be too costly as a fifth examiner, the new professor would have to have a place in theĬollegium strictum, which would mean an increase in examination-fees and would thus harm the less well-off students, who might then be tempted to transfer to a less expensive University. 105, the Faculty of Medicine reacted to chemical medicine slowly. The University of Louvain 1425-1975 (Louvain: Leuven University Press, 1976), p. The appointment of de Renault as Professor of Chemistry at the University of Louvain in 1685 reflected more than a century of debate in European-learned circles ( 1 1 Chemistry and the universities in the seventeenth century * *Ĭonferência do Mês do IEA/USP feita pelo autor no dia 10 de setembro de 1990.