SCRIBONIUS, Wilhelm Adolf; WIDDOWES, Daniel, ed.

by Wilhelm Adolf; WIDDOWES, Daniel, ed Scribonius

£2,950 · Offered by Sokol Books

First edition of the first English translation of Scribonius work on natural science. Probably from the library of the botanist Edmund Pitt (1613-88), Alderman of Worcester, who corresponded, among others, with Robert Boyle. Three further books with the same ms autograph, all concerning medicine and natural science, are preserved at the BL. W.A. Scribonius (fl.1576-1583) was a German philosopher, and the author of several works on natural science, including Rerum naturalium doctrina methodica (1583), of which the present is an abridged translation. With this work, Scribonius applied the principles of Ramist logic to natural science, which Ramus himself had never properly attempted, providing an introduction for the use of university students. The overall aim of Petrus Ramus (1515-72) was to provide a reform of logic, or dialectic, in order to make it more suitable than scholastic logic for use in teaching the liberal arts (Enc. Ren. Phil., 2545). Widdowes translation begins with an introduction to basic concepts in natural science (e.g., substance, accidents, qualities, colours, the zodiac constellations, the planets and their properties, the four elements), as well as short explanations of odd phenomena, such as the false Sun , imprinted in the cloud by the reflection of his beams . The major focus of this translation is however on metals, their qualities and medicinal properties (e.g., brass, quicksilver, iron, lead, tin, diamonds, gems, salts, etc.), which made this a very

• Binding: Hardcover

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