A History of Magic and Experimental Science (8 Volume Set)

Thorndike, Lynn

Columbia University Press, 1958

Bound in publisher's green cloth. Gilt lettering. Hardcover. Good bindings and covers. Shelf wear. Clean, unmarked pages. This is an oversized or heavy book, which requires additional postage for international delivery outside the US.

Lynn Thorndike's monumental history of Magic and Experimental Science follows the history of Science, alchemy and magic in the west. V. 1-2. The first thirteen centuries of our era. --v. 3-4. Fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. --v. 5-6. The sixteenth century. --v. 7-8. The seventeenth century. 

"Such persons as Pliny the Elder, Galen, Hildegarde of Bing- en, Bartholomeus Anglicus, Albertus Magnus, Arnauldus de Villanova, Petrus d'Abano, Symphorien Champier, and Fracastorius are discussed extensively in special chapters. Such subjects as post-classical medicine; Anglo- Saxon Salernitan and other Latin medicine from the 9th to the 12th centuries; early 13th century medicine; medical and biological experiments and secrets; 14th century medicine; astrology and medicine; works on poisons; astrological surgery and medicine and similar subjects are particularly medical in character. Astrology and alchemy in all their aspects are thoroughly dis- cussed and made intelligible to the ordinary person. The work is thoroughly documented with reference to original sources. There are many full biblio- graphical citations to uncommon works, both in manuscript and printed forms. The text is written in the narrative form. It is easy to read and always interesting. This monumental history is on a par with Sarton's Introduction to the History of Science." Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1941 Jun; 29(4): 229-230. 

From the library Dr. Owen Hannaway. Hannaway was director of the Center for the History and Philosophy of Science at Johns Hopkins University. He authored numerous books and served as an editor of academic magazines in the history of science. Partial list of publications: Chemists and the Word: The Didactic Origins of Chemistry (1975); Observation, Experiment, and Hypothesis in Modern Physical Science (1985); The Evolution of Technology (1989); Science and the Practice of Medicine in the Nineteenth Century (1994); and The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional and Intellectual Contexts (1996).