A History of the Ecological Sciences, Part 13: Broadening Science in Italy and England, 1600–1650

Abstract

The number of European scientists and their publications increased steadily during the 1500s to the point that science needed social organization beyond what universities provided. Scientists corresponded with each other (Hatch 2000), and botanical gardens and museums were founded, often connected to a university or a city (Impey and MacGregor 1985, Findlen 1994, 2000, Cooper 2000). Italy led the way. In the later 1500s, a Neapolitan nobleman and natural philosopher, Giambattista della Porta (1535-1615) established the first scientific society, Academia dei Segreti (Academia Secretorum Naturae), while still a teenager (Rienstra 1975, Eamon 2000). He was inspired by the literary academies of Naples. He and his group investigated a wide variety of science topics, such as magnetism, optics, distillation, mechanics of water and steam, making plants bloom or fruit out of season, physiognomy, and topics now called pseudo-sciences, such as physiognomy and strange cures--all of which they called natural magic. Porta was a prolific author, whose most famous work, Magia Naturalis, included results from the Academia's investigations; it first appeared in four ``books'' in 1558, but grew through many later editions to 20 ``books'' by 1589. Besides the 12 Latin editions, there were four in Italian, seven in French, two in German, and two in English. The English translation was not published until 1658 and the second edition appeared in 1669.