The Whole Works of Dr. Archibald Pitcairn, Published by Himself. Wherein are Discovered, The True Foundation and Principles of the Art of Physic with Cases and Observations upon Most Distempers and Medicines. Drawn from the Latin original by George Sewell and J.T. Desaguliers. The Second Edition. London: Printed for J. Pemberton, 1727.

PITCAIRN, Archibald

Beschreibung

'Archibald Pitcairne (1652 1713) was one of the founding members of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh. He had an extensive practice among the Scots gentry. Pitcairne's intellectual abilities were widely recognized. He held a post at Edinburgh University, although he appears not to have taught, held the prestigious chair of practice of medicine at Leiden University between 1691 and 1693. Pitcairne clearly possessed the mathematical skills thoroughly to grasp Newton s ideas. From the 1670s he was a close friend of David Gregory, later Professor of Mathematics at Edinburgh University and the eventual holder of the mathematics chair at Oxford. The two men worked together on infinite series, and were lodging together when Gregory began working on his commentary on the Principia. In 1692 Pitcairne spent several days with Newton, discussing his essay on De natura acidorum . Pitcairne explicitly modelled his medical thinking on mathematical and astronomical research, believing that medicine could be understood through geometry. He adopted key features of Newton s thinking: that particles were subject to the same forces as macroscopic bodies, that motion is not innate to matter, and that inertial states are preserved. He drew analogies between the heartbeat and gravity. However, Pitcairne was no slavish follower of Newton and he rejected Newton s theories on short-range forces. Having failed to discover any experimental evidence for attraction, Pitcairne excluded it from his thinking as unknowable and therefore speculative' (Dictionary of Eighteenth-Century British Philosophers, Thoemmes Press, 1999). PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 8vo, [xvi], 275, [6] pp., contemporary calf panelled in blind, spine gilt in compartments with red morcco label, rubbed with some loss of gilt, minor loss at head of spine, front blank endpaper torn away, an ink stain on title-page, otherwise internally very fresh. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers ABE-1728063761925

Bibliografische Details

Titel: The Whole Works of Dr. Archibald Pitcairn, ...

Einband: Hardcover

Zustand: Very Good