Searching for the Secrets of Nature: The Life and Works of Dr. Francisco Hernandez - Hardcover

Hernandez, Francisco

 
9780804739641: Searching for the Secrets of Nature: The Life and Works of Dr. Francisco Hernandez
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0804739641 ISBN 13: 9780804739641
Verlag: Stanford University Press, 2001

Inhaltsangabe

This collection of essays by historians, historians of science and medicine, and literary and textual scholars—from the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Spain—analyzes the achievements of Dr. Francisco Hernández (1515-87) in the history of medicine and science in Europe and the Americas. Celebrated in his own day as one of Spain's leading physicians and naturalists, he is now best remembered for his monumental work on the native plants and materia medica of central Mexico.

Sent to New Spain in 1570 by King Philip II to research and describe the natural history of the region, to assess the medical usefulness of the natural resources, and to gather ethnographic materials for an anthropological history, Hernández was the first trained scientist to undertake scientific work in the New World. For seven years he gathered information throughout the Valley of Mexico, learning Nahuatl, recording local medical customs, studying indigenous medicines, and writing down all his observations. The result was The Natural History of New Spain, written in Latin, which consisted of six folio volumes filled with descriptions of over 3,000 plants previously unknown in Europe (along with descriptions of a much smaller number of animals and minerals) and ten folio volumes of paintings by Mexican artists illustrating the plants and animals he described.

Hernández died before he could publish his Natural History, and the materials were placed in the Escorial, where they were extensively consulted, copied, abstracted, and translated by generations of scientists, medical specialists, and natural philosophers before they were destroyed by fire in 1671. Hernández's work was still regarded as authoritative on a number of New World botanical topics as late as the nineteenth century, and his writings remain in use in popular form in Mexico today.

The sixteen essays in this volume treat the most important aspects of Hernández's experience, including his education, his heterodox beliefs, and the state of medicine in both Spain and New Spain during his era. Other essays show the dissemination of the knowledge Hernández accumulated, including his contributions to European botany and materia medica, his relationship to Spanish Baroque painting, the "globalization" of his work in the eighteenth century, and his place in nineteenth-century debates among Spanish scientists.

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Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Simon Varey is Director of Development Publications at the College of Letters and Science, University of California, Los Angeles. Rafael Chabrán is Professor of Spanish at Whittier College. Dora B. Weiner is Professor of Medical Humanities and of History at the University of California, Los Angeles.


Simon Varey is Director of Development Publications at the College of Letters and Science, University of California, Los Angeles. Rafael Chabrán is Professor of Spanish at Whittier College. Dora B. Weiner is Professor of Medical Humanities and of History at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Von der hinteren Coverseite

This collection of essays by historians, historians of science and medicine, and literary and textual scholars—from the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Spain—analyzes the achievements of Dr. Francisco Hernández (1515-87) in the history of medicine and science in Europe and the Americas. Celebrated in his own day as one of Spain’s leading physicians and naturalists, he is now best remembered for his monumental work on the native plants and materia medica of central Mexico.
Sent to New Spain in 1570 by King Philip II to research and describe the natural history of the region, to assess the medical usefulness of the natural resources, and to gather ethnographic materials for an anthropological history, Hernández was the first trained scientist to undertake scientific work in the New World. For seven years he gathered information throughout the Valley of Mexico, learning Nahuatl, recording local medical customs, studying indigenous medicines, and writing down all his observations. The result was The Natural History of New Spain, written in Latin, which consisted of six folio volumes filled with descriptions of over 3,000 plants previously unknown in Europe (along with descriptions of a much smaller number of animals and minerals) and ten folio volumes of paintings by Mexican artists illustrating the plants and animals he described.
Hernández died before he could publish his Natural History, and the materials were placed in the Escorial, where they were extensively consulted, copied, abstracted, and translated by generations of scientists, medical specialists, and natural philosophers before they were destroyed by fire in 1671. Hernández’s work was still regarded as authoritative on a number of New World botanical topics as late as the nineteenth century, and his writings remain in use in popular form in Mexico today.
The sixteen essays in this volume treat the most important aspects of Hernández’s experience, including his education, his heterodox beliefs, and the state of medicine in both Spain and New Spain during his era. Other essays show the dissemination of the knowledge Hernández accumulated, including his contributions to European botany and materia medica, his relationship to Spanish Baroque painting, the “globalization” of his work in the eighteenth century, and his place in nineteenth-century debates among Spanish scientists.

Aus dem Klappentext

This collection of essays by historians, historians of science and medicine, and literary and textual scholars from the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Spain analyzes the achievements of Dr. Francisco Hernández (1515-87) in the history of medicine and science in Europe and the Americas. Celebrated in his own day as one of Spain s leading physicians and naturalists, he is now best remembered for his monumental work on the native plants and materia medica of central Mexico.
Sent to New Spain in 1570 by King Philip II to research and describe the natural history of the region, to assess the medical usefulness of the natural resources, and to gather ethnographic materials for an anthropological history, Hernández was the first trained scientist to undertake scientific work in the New World. For seven years he gathered information throughout the Valley of Mexico, learning Nahuatl, recording local medical customs, studying indigenous medicines, and writing down all his observations. The result was The Natural History of New Spain, written in Latin, which consisted of six folio volumes filled with descriptions of over 3,000 plants previously unknown in Europe (along with descriptions of a much smaller number of animals and minerals) and ten folio volumes of paintings by Mexican artists illustrating the plants and animals he described.
Hernández died before he could publish his Natural History, and the materials were placed in the Escorial, where they were extensively consulted, copied, abstracted, and translated by generations of scientists, medical specialists, and natural philosophers before they were destroyed by fire in 1671. Hernández s work was still regarded as authoritative on a number of New World botanical topics as late as the nineteenth century, and his writings remain in use in popular form in Mexico today.
The sixteen essays in this volume treat the most important aspects of Hernández s experience, including his education, his heterodox beliefs, and the state of medicine in both Spain and New Spain during his era. Other essays show the dissemination of the knowledge Hernández accumulated, including his contributions to European botany and materia medica, his relationship to Spanish Baroque painting, the globalization of his work in the eighteenth century, and his place in nineteenth-century debates among Spanish scientists.

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SEARCHING FOR THE SECRETS OF NATURE

THE LIFE AND WORKS OF DR. FRANCISCO HERNNDEZ

STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Copyright © 2000 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8047-3964-1

Contents

List of Illustrations......................................................................................................................viiAcknowledgments............................................................................................................................ixAbbreviations..............................................................................................................................xiEditorial Methods..........................................................................................................................xiiiChronology.................................................................................................................................xvINTRODUCTIONThe World of Dr. Francisco Hernndez DORA B. WEINER.......................................................................................3Philip II: Imperial Obligations and Scientific Vision PETER O'MALLEY PIERSON..............................................................11PART I THE INTELLECTUAL MILIEU OF HERNNDEZThe Classical Tradition in Renaissance Spain and New Trends in Philology, Medicine, and Materia Medica RAFAEL CHABRN.....................21Francisco Hernndez, Renaissance Man SIMON VAREY..........................................................................................33Hernndez in Mxico: Exile and Censorship? CARMEN BENITO-VESSELS..........................................................................41PART II MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICES IN NEW SPAINRegulation of Medical Practitioners in the Age of Francisco Hernndez JOHN JAY TEPASKE....................................................55Shelter and Care for Natives and Colonists: Hospitals in Sixteenth-Century New Spain GUENTER B. RISSE.....................................65Illness, Epidemics, and Displaced Classes in Sixteenth-Century New Spain ELSA MALVIDO.....................................................82Anthropology, Reason, and the Dictates of Faith in the Antiquities of Francisco Hernndez DAVID A. BORUCHOFF..............................90ENTR'ACTE RAFAEL CHABRN AND SIMON VAREY..................................................................................................105PART III THE DISSEMINATION OF HERNNDEZ'S KNOWLEDGEThe Reception of American Drugs in Europe, 1500-1650 J. WORTHESTES........................................................................111The Contribution of Hernndez to European Botany and Materia Medica JOS M. LPEZ PIERO AND JOS PARDO TOMS.............................122Hernndez in the Netherlands and England RAFAEL CHABRN AND SIMON VAREY...................................................................138Hernndez and Spanish Painting in the Seventeenth Century MARA JOS LPEZ TERRADA........................................................151Globalizing the Natural History JAIME VILCHIS.............................................................................................170The Circulation of the Work of Hernndez in Nineteenth-Century Spain LEONCIO LPEZ-OCN...................................................183PART IV POSTSCRIPT: CONTINUING TRADITIONS OF MEXICAN MEDICINELatino Catholic Civilization: Patterns of Health and Demography DAVID HAYES-BAUTISTA......................................................197The Popular Legacy of Francisco Hernndez SIMON VAREY AND RAFAEL CHABRN..................................................................205Glossary...................................................................................................................................211Index......................................................................................................................................213

Chapter One

THE CLASSICAL TRADITION IN RENAISSANCE SPAIN AND NEW TRENDS IN PHILOLOGY, MEDICINE, AND MATERIA MEDICA

RAFAEL CHABRN

That students dedicate themselves to the study of the liberal arts, holy scripture, medicine and the study of languages, grammar, and Greek. -Constitution of the University of Alcal de Henares

We must emphasize the usefulness and necessity of letters-what the Greeks call grammar, which nature has linked inseparably with all other sciences; thus all those who dismiss grammar in any discipline are wrong. -Juan de Brocar

Thanks to the contributions of very diligent and very wise men (many of which have been produced in this century), [the classics] have been returned first to their integrity and original elegance, and later translated into elegant Latin. -Francisco Valles

Francisco Hernndez is still known in some circles today by the nickname he acquired in his own time, "the Third Pliny," and indeed the life and work of Hernndez are intimately bound to the work of the elder Pliny (A.D. 23-79), especially to translations, editions, and corrections published during the Renaissance. In the preface to his own translation of Pliny, Hernndez referred to the Natural History as "the encyclopedia of all the sciences." The works of both Pliny and Hernndez can be considered "encyclopedias" in the sense that they are "knowledge books" that were written in order to preserve and order knowledge. It could be said that they had a common purpose, at least in the general sense in which Pliny expressed it: "My subject is the natural world, or life-that is life in its most basic aspects." At times, the work of both can seem to be "unwieldy conglutinations" of raw materials. Pliny's work is diffuse and frequently runs squarely upon the problem of presenting encyclopedic knowledge. Both works aim to provide "useful information." Hernndez, who spent a large part of his life (at least eleven years, probably many more) translating Pliny's work and composing a long commentary on it, must have been influenced by Pliny's interest in the utilitarian aspects of knowledge derived from natural history. Like the well-known official chroniclers of the Indies, Hernndez frequently combined anthropological materials with encyclopedic descriptions of natural phenomena. Natural history fused with moral history. But at times, the new knowledge did not square with the facts of his classic model.

"Between 1550 and 1650," as Anthony Grafton points out, "Western thinkers ceased to believe that they would find all important truths in ancient books." Frequently, the experience of travel and confrontation with a new nature contradicted the views of the ancients, and so "naked experience" began to take the place of written authority. Humanists challenged the scholastics and questioned the authority of the ancients. Following the lead of Lpez Piero, who underscores the importance of approaching the history of science in terms of "a complex network of interconnections between the disciplines," the present essay explores interconnections between Renaissance developments in philology, anatomy, and botany in Spain during the sixteenth century, within the contexts of tradition and innovation of Spanish medical knowledge at the Universities of Alcal de Henares and Valencia. We will situate Dr. Francisco Hernndez's intellectual development in the context of the history of the University of Alcal and in an academic environment in which Hernndez was introduced to the...

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Verlag
Stanford University Press
Erscheinungsdatum
2001
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0804739641
ISBN 13 
9780804739641
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Anzahl der Seiten
229
Herausgeber
Varey Simon, Chabran Rafael, Weiner Dora B.
Kontakt zum Hersteller
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mail@preigu.de

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