Science and the Secrets of Nature Books of Secrets in Medieval and Early Modern Culture

About this book

By explaining how to sire multicolored horses, produce nuts without shells, and create an egg the size of a human head, Giambattista Della Porta's Natural Magic (1559) conveys a fascination with tricks and illusions that makes it a work difficult for historians of science to take seriously. Yet, according to William Eamon, it is in the "how-to" books written by medieval alchemists, magicians, and artisans that modern science has its roots. These compilations of recipes on everything from parlor tricks through medical remedies to wool-dyeing fascinated medieval intellectuals because they promised access to esoteric "secrets of nature."

In closely examining this rich but little-known source of literature, Eamon reveals that printing technology and popular culture had as great, if not stronger, an impact on early modern science as did the traditional academic disciplines.

Contents

<table><TR><TD> <TD>List of Illustrations and Tables <TR><TD>Pt. 1 <TD>The Literature of Secrets <TR><TD>1 <TD>The Literature of Secrets in the Middle Ages <TR><TD>2 <TD>Knowledge and Power <TR><TD>Pt. 2 <TD>The Secrets of Nature in the Age of Printing <TR><TD>3 <TD>Arcana Disclosed <TR><TD>4 <TD>The Professors of Secrets and Their Books <TR><TD>5 <TD>Leonardo Fioravanti, Vendor of Secrets <TR><TD>6 <TD>Natural Magic and the Secrets of Nature <TR><TD>7 <TD>The Secrets of Nature in Popular Culture <TR><TD>Pt. 3 <TD>The "New Philosophy" <TR><TD>8 <TD>Science as a Venatio <TR><TD>9 <TD>The Virtuosi and the Secrets of Nature <TR><TD>10 <TD>From the Secrets of Nature to Public Knowledge <TR><TD> <TD>Conclusion <TR><TD> <TD>Appendix: Secreti Italiani: Italian Booklets of Secrets, ca. 1520-1643 <TR><TD> <TD>Abbreviations <TR><TD> <TD>Notes <TR><TD> <TD>Bibliography <TR><TD> <TD>Index

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