{"title":"Plant alchemy, Paracelsianism and internal signature theory in the writings of Guy de La Brosse (1586–1641)","authors":"Georgiana D. Hedesan","doi":"10.1098/rsnr.2023.0031","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"In France, the Jardin des Plantes is one of the oldest surviving scientific institutions, the chief botanical garden and the host of many schools and centres studying the natural sciences. It was established in 1640 as the Royal Garden through the tireless labour of the physician Guy de La Brosse (1586–1641). The present article focuses on La Brosse's views of advancement of plant alchemy as the source of knowledge of plants. It discusses his adoption of the Paracelsian physician Joseph Du Chesne's (Quercetanus, 1546–1609) distinction between external and internal signature theory, opting firmly for the latter as the basis of true knowledge. The internal character, La Brosse argues, can only be revealed empirically, by fire analysis and the practice of distillation, which can also harness the occult properties of plants for human benefit.","PeriodicalId":49744,"journal":{"name":"Notes and Records-The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Notes and Records-The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2023.0031","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"HISTORY & PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In France, the Jardin des Plantes is one of the oldest surviving scientific institutions, the chief botanical garden and the host of many schools and centres studying the natural sciences. It was established in 1640 as the Royal Garden through the tireless labour of the physician Guy de La Brosse (1586–1641). The present article focuses on La Brosse's views of advancement of plant alchemy as the source of knowledge of plants. It discusses his adoption of the Paracelsian physician Joseph Du Chesne's (Quercetanus, 1546–1609) distinction between external and internal signature theory, opting firmly for the latter as the basis of true knowledge. The internal character, La Brosse argues, can only be revealed empirically, by fire analysis and the practice of distillation, which can also harness the occult properties of plants for human benefit.
在法国,植物园是现存最古老的科学机构之一,是主要的植物园,也是许多自然科学学校和研究中心的所在地。在内科医生Guy de La Brosse(1586-1641)的不懈努力下,它于1640年建成皇家花园。本文主要讨论拉布罗斯关于植物炼金术作为植物知识来源的观点。它讨论了他对帕拉塞尔斯医生约瑟夫·杜·切斯内(Joseph Du Chesne, Quercetanus, 1546-1609)区分外部和内部特征理论的采用,坚定地选择后者作为真正知识的基础。拉布罗斯认为,内部特性只能通过火焰分析和蒸馏实践的经验来揭示,这也可以利用植物的神秘特性为人类造福。
期刊介绍:
Notes and Records is an international journal which publishes original research in the history of science, technology and medicine.
In addition to publishing peer-reviewed research articles in all areas of the history of science, technology and medicine, Notes and Records welcomes other forms of contribution including: research notes elucidating recent archival discoveries (in the collections of the Royal Society and elsewhere); news of research projects and online and other resources of interest to historians; essay reviews, on material relating primarily to the history of the Royal Society; and recollections or autobiographical accounts written by Fellows and others recording important moments in science from the recent past.