Georgius Agricola had not only for centuries been an authoritative figure in the earth sciences but he was also deeply involved in political and cultural reorganisation at the beginning of the 16th century. He strove for a new understanding of science attaching to it the quality of observing reality and the necessity of putting these observations into a systematic order, thus previewing the encyclopedic movement of the enlightenment. He could do this in a frame-work which was lent from the (...) De-re-rustica-literature which still acceptedvenatio, cursiositas andvirtuositas as preconditions for scientific research as well as for political activity. (shrink)

This paper on the occasion of the 500th birthday of the great Saxon humanistic scholar Georgius Agricola deals with his contributions to geology in the narrow sense. These, contrary to his voluminous works on mining, metallurgy and mineralogy (De re metallica and De natura fossilium, resp.) are parts of the booksDe ortu et causis subterraneorum andDe natura eorum, quae effluunt ex terra. In those we find statements on the causes of earthquakes, on volcanos and the subterranean fire as well (...) as the effects of the running water in mountain-building. Agricola's ideas on geological time and his statements on dynamics of the Earth's crust are remarkable. (shrink)

Aristotle described the earth as a cold and dry body and paid no attention to the phenomenon of terrestrial heat. Renaissance physicians, by contrast, when seeking to understand the origin of hot springs in the context of their balneological studies, came to defend a theory of subterranean fires. This tradition, which started in Italy, became widely known through the works of Georgius Agricola. But although it had implications for the explanation of further natural phenomena, it remained almost exclusively confined (...) to medical circles. As far as physics as an academic discipline was concerned, the ideas concerning subterranean fire were hardly taken note of. Only with the collapse of Aristotelian philosophy in the seventeenth century could these by then "old innovations" obtain a wider significance. (shrink)

Best contemporary edition of the Collected Works of Rodolphus Agricola (1443-1485), one of the precursors and founders of Humanism north of the Alps.

Para reconstruir la historia de la Patagonia desde una perspectiva que pone al sistema escolar en el centro, es inevitable centrar la atención en el aporte social y educativo de las Congregaciones salesianas, Salesianos e Hijas de María Auxiliadora, que se inició a fines del siglo XIX y principios del siglo XX. En la Patagonia, de hecho, las Congregaciones asumieron un papel relevante, mostrando un monopolio misionero y educativo desde 1880, aunque en algunos espacios y en distintos momentos, existieron tensiones (...) con los funcionarios del Estado por el conjunto de Leyes laicas sancionadas entre 1881 y 1884. En esta contribución adoptaremos una visión territorialista desarrollada en el contexto de la geografía suiza e italiana para analizar las escuelas agrícolas salesianas de la Patagonia, como resultado de la transformación material llevada a cabo por la Congregación salesiana-con foco en la escuela agrícola "San Miguel" de General Roca- en el marco de la formación del sistema educativo estatal y en el contexto de la promulgación y aplicación de la Ley nacional N° 1420 de 1884. (shrink)

`Long may the barbarians continue, I pray, if not to love us, at least to hate one another.' Cornelius Tacitus, Rome's greatest historian and the last great writer of classical Latin prose, produced his first two books in AD 98. He was inspired to take up his pen when the assassination of Domitian ended `fifteen years of enforced silence'. The first products were brief: the biography of his late father-in-law Julius Agricola and an account of Rome's most dangerous enemies, the (...) Germans. Since Agricola's claim to fame was that as governor for seven years he had completed the conquest of Britain, begun four decades earlier, much of the first work is devoted to Britain and its people. The second is the only surviving specimen from the ancient world of an ethnographic study. Each in its way has had immense influence on our perception of Rome and the northern `barbarians'. This edition reflects recent research in Roman-British and Roman-German history and includes newly discovered evidence on Tacitus' early career. (shrink)

Danish astronomy in the first half of the seventeenth century reflected the enduring legacy of Tycho Brahe and was dominated by his former assistant Longomontanus. This paper focuses on his successor as professor of astronomy, Jørgen From or Georgius Frommius in the Latin version, who was also the second director of the Round Tower observatory in Copenhagen. Before becoming a professor, Frommius travelled to the Netherlands and other countries. The letters from his journey cast light on the training of (...) a young astronomer at the time. He most likely was the first Dane to observe the heavens with a telescope. In the 1640s, he got involved in a controversy with the French astronomer and astrologist Jean Morin, and he later contributed to Pierre Gassendi’s pioneering biography of Tycho Brahe. Although Frommius died at the age of 46, his brief career as professor and astronomer is of interest to national as well as international history of science. (shrink)

Analizaremos algunos rasgos del proceso de transformación económica y social que tuvo lugar en al-Andalus entre los siglos X y XII, en el marco de la «revolución económica» de la Europa plenomedieval, tomando como caso de estudio la región oriental de la península ibérica. El proceso debió de arrancar con un despegue demográfico y con el aumento de la productividad agrícola, en este caso derivado de los progresos técnicos asociados a la llamada «revolución verde» islámica de los siglos VIII al (...) X. El incremento creciente de los beneficios derivados del campo y el interés por aprovecharlos seguramente impulsó la coacción de las élites urbanas sobre las comunidades campesinas para arrebatarles las tierras más rentables. También pudo ocasionar la colonización de áreas rurales menos favorecidas, que hasta ese momento habían permanecido incultas, por parte de esos grupos acomodados que buscaban expandir los cultivos comerciales, así como por familias de campesinos desposeídos de las mejores tierras. Los cambios en el mundo rural influyeron en el crecimiento de las ciudades debido a la inmigración de la población del campo, presionada y desplazada, que se incorporaba como proletariado urbano ante el incremento en la demanda de manufacturas y bienes de consumo por parte de los terratenientes enriquecidos que habitaban esas ciudades. (shrink)

**A newly revised edition of two seminal works on Imperial Rome** Undeniably one of Rome’s most important historians, Tacitus was also one of its most gifted. *The Agricola* is both a portrait of Julius Agricola-the most famous governor of Roman Britain and Tacitus’s respected father-in-law-and the first known detailed portrayal of the British Isles. In the *Germania*, Tacitus focuses on the warlike German tribes beyond the Rhine, often comparing the behavior of "barbarian" peoples favorably with the decadence and corruption of (...) Imperial Rome. (shrink)

Initio praenotandum: Imprimitur hic in latina versione articulus praeparatus pro Universali Philosophiae Enciclopaedia, quae a Polona Societate Thomae Aquinatis in Catholica Universitate Lublinensi edi curatur. Thema istud accuratius extensiusque elaboratum est in dissertatione academica ad doctoratum obtinendum, cuius hic brevis synthesis praesentatur. Erat: sacerdos, rector collegiorum studiorumque, scriptor polemicus, theologus apologeta, contrreformator, atheographus, censor criticus atheismi, Cartesii reformatorumque. A historicis eminentior putatur inter polonos sodales Societatis lesu saeculo XVIII. Quam opinionem ipsi potissimum meruerunt eius publicationes populares, in quibus actualia graviaque (...) problemata perpendebat illisque remedia opportuna proponebat. Apud suos confratres optima quoque aestimatione usus est testificata muneribus ipsi commissis in communitatis bonum. (shrink)

In this article the views of George of Trebizond on death are regrouped and presented as they were expressed in various of his works over a long period. From their study, their dependence of classical Greek philosophy is demonstrated and his overall turn from Neo-Platonism to Aristotelianism is also adequately proved.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be (...) preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

The Dutch East Indies Company was one of the most aggressive and successful trading enterprises in the seventeenth‐century world. In the Indian Ocean it elbowed the Portuguese out of major ports, dominated the lucrative spice trade, and ruthlessly punished the natives if they refused to cooperate. Like the English East India Company, which would soon become a fierce rival, the VOC was a formidable commercial, military, and imperial complex in the expanding maritime world. In recent years historians of science have (...) begun to examine how this growing maritime trade in the early modern period contributed to the development of natural history. Specimens and observations brought back from the tropics and other exotic lands had an enormous impact on the European understanding of the natural world. Scientific voyages and explorations were relatively few before the middle of the eighteenth century. It was the network of maritime trade that supplied most of the scientific data about the rest of the world. More than anyone else, employees of the Dutch and English maritime enterprises collected the specimens and observations that fed the scientific communities in their home countries. Many of these largely forgotten individuals were accomplished naturalists whose experience and knowledge earned them respect among the scientific elite in Europe.The activities of Georgius Rumphius nicely illustrate the conjunction of science and maritime trade. After a peripatetic military career, Rumphius joined the VOC and in 1652 sailed to the Dutch East Indies, where he would spend the rest of his life. He didn't go to the East with the purpose of investigating natural history, but the strange creatures in this exotic land caught his attention, and he began studying natural history, collecting specimens, and writing about them. It was a labor of love. Not even blindness could stop his research; in fact, he produced most of his voluminous writings on the natural history of Ambon, or Amboina, a small island northeast of Java, after he lost his eyesight. But it would be an oversimplification to see Rumphius as a lonesome genius marooned in a remote island struggling to produce brilliant work that only posterity would come to appreciate. In the Dutch East Indies during this period, several employees of the VOC were dedicated naturalists, including the noted Hendrik van Reede, and they exchanged ideas and information with him. Rumphius also maintained an active correspondence with the scientific establishment in Europe and was elected to a prestigious scientific academy.Rumphius's major work was an illustrated herbal that described about 1,200 plants found in Ambon and the nearby areas. The Ambonese Curiosity Cabinet, however, focuses not on plants but on crustaceans, shells, minerals, and other items that are grouped into three categories: “Soft Shellfish,” “Hard Shellfish,” and “Minerals, Stones, and Other Rare Things.” Each of the volume's 170 chapters examines one or more natural objects, often with accompanying illustrations. The descriptions are usually vivid and convey a sense of wonder at exotic natural objects. The text also contains rich ethnographic records of the maritime world of Southeast Asia. Rumphius drew heavily on the indigenous lore of the natural world and frequently cited information collected from Chinese traders and immigrants. Combing through the text, one comes across many telling examples of how a seventeenth‐century naturalist pursued research in the social and cultural environment of a colonial entrepot. The translator, a distinguished scholar of Dutch colonial literature, has added a long introduction detailing Rumphius's life and work. The text itself is amply annotated. (shrink)

It is shown, first, that Georgius Benignus [Juraj Dragišić, ca 1445-1520] at the end of the 15th century almost fully disposed with the theory of the fourth syllogistic figure. Prantl's view on Benignus' logic is critically examined. Besides, Benignus' doctrines on the supposition of terms and logical consequences are examined with respect to his two versions of logic (1488/1489 and 1519) and to the main influences (e.g., Strodus, Paulus Venetus, Ferebrich, Paulus Pergolensis). A reduction of the rules of consequences (...) of Benignus' logic 1488/1489 to the rules of logic 1519 is reconstructed. Benignus rejects the reasoning ex impossible quodlibet and e quolibet necessarium in what he defines as material consequences. (shrink)

Las islas Yaeyama, localizadas al suroeste del archipiélago de Ryukyu, Japón, presentan una gran variedad de rituales y festividades dedicados a las deidades (kami) de los sitios sagrados comunales (utaki/On). Estos eventos anuales, vinculados con el ciclo agrícola, son realizados con base en organizaciones sociales específicas, y tienen la finalidad de agradecer por los cultivos, pedir por la salud, y asegurar la fertilidad para el año venidero. A través de estos actos, se desdoblan una serie de consideraciones y principios vinculados (...) a una visión del mundo y un sistema de creencias, los cuales son percibidos a través de concepciones del espacio y el tiempo, así como formas simbólicas expresadas en la composición del sitio sagrado. (shrink)