Studies on Christiaan Huygens by H. J. M. Bos; M. J. S. Rudwick; H. A. M. Snelders; R. P. W.VisserReview by: Maurice A. FinocchiaroIsis, Vol. 73, No. 1 (Mar., 1982), pp. 137-138Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/232126 .

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BOOK REVIEWS-ISIS, 73 : 1: 266 (1982) BOOK REVIEWS-ISIS, 73 : 1: 266 (1982)

the world of scholars during the Age of Discovery.

The author introduces his study with a description of the principal models of the world that were prevalent in late medieval times. The first of these, the "Biblico- Cratesian," representing an amalgam of the views of Krates of Mallos and of certain forms of biblical exegesis, views the earth as largely water-covered, with four small land areas or "isles" representing conti- nents. The "Biblico-Aristotelian" model is based on a concept of the four elements- earth, water, air, and fire-the last three surrounding the earth in spherical fashion (orbiculariter). The "zonal" theory, per- haps the best known still, conceives of five zones: two polar or frigid, two temperate, and one central or torrid. The medieval view of the oikumene may be best visualized through the so-called "T in 0" diagrams, representing the continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa, divided by the Mediter- ranean, the Nile, and the Don.

As the Aristotelian and Cratesian views of areas of land and water are gradually eliminated by the nautical progress of the people of the Iberian Peninsula, the con- troversy over the nature of the New World takes shape: is it an island or a continent, is there a passage beyond or through it to the East?

The author displays considerable erudi- tion and brings little-known authors into his argument, shedding new light on the arduous debate that led to the final accep- tance of the New World as a continent. In so doing he illuminates the workings of both scholarly and practical minds at a time when a new model of our earth was taking shape. His extensive bibliography and the use of both reproduced and redrawn maps will be a welcome set of tools to scholars dealing with this well-known problem.

GEORGE KISH

* Seventeeth & Eighteenth Centuries

H. J. M. Bos; M. J. S. Rudwick; H. A. M. Snelders; R. P. W. Visser (Editors). Studies on Christiaan Huygens. (Invited Papers from the Symposium on the Life and Work of Christiaan Huygens, Amsterdam, 22-25 August 1979.) v + 321 pp., illus., index. Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger, 1980. Dfl65.

Of the founders of modern science Chris- tiaan Huygens is perhaps the most enigma-

the world of scholars during the Age of Discovery.

The author introduces his study with a description of the principal models of the world that were prevalent in late medieval times. The first of these, the "Biblico- Cratesian," representing an amalgam of the views of Krates of Mallos and of certain forms of biblical exegesis, views the earth as largely water-covered, with four small land areas or "isles" representing conti- nents. The "Biblico-Aristotelian" model is based on a concept of the four elements- earth, water, air, and fire-the last three surrounding the earth in spherical fashion (orbiculariter). The "zonal" theory, per- haps the best known still, conceives of five zones: two polar or frigid, two temperate, and one central or torrid. The medieval view of the oikumene may be best visualized through the so-called "T in 0" diagrams, representing the continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa, divided by the Mediter- ranean, the Nile, and the Don.

As the Aristotelian and Cratesian views of areas of land and water are gradually eliminated by the nautical progress of the people of the Iberian Peninsula, the con- troversy over the nature of the New World takes shape: is it an island or a continent, is there a passage beyond or through it to the East?

The author displays considerable erudi- tion and brings little-known authors into his argument, shedding new light on the arduous debate that led to the final accep- tance of the New World as a continent. In so doing he illuminates the workings of both scholarly and practical minds at a time when a new model of our earth was taking shape. His extensive bibliography and the use of both reproduced and redrawn maps will be a welcome set of tools to scholars dealing with this well-known problem.

GEORGE KISH

* Seventeeth & Eighteenth Centuries

H. J. M. Bos; M. J. S. Rudwick; H. A. M. Snelders; R. P. W. Visser (Editors). Studies on Christiaan Huygens. (Invited Papers from the Symposium on the Life and Work of Christiaan Huygens, Amsterdam, 22-25 August 1979.) v + 321 pp., illus., index. Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger, 1980. Dfl65.

Of the founders of modern science Chris- tiaan Huygens is perhaps the most enigma-

tic. Historically speaking, his contributions to mathematics, mechanics, astronomy, instrumentation, and scientific organization were first-rank; yet this is not reflected in the influence he exerted on scientific pos- terity. Historiographically, the twenty-two volumes of his Oeuvres completes probably constitute the most complete and informa- tive critical edition available for any com- parable figure; yet historians of science have not been motivated to produce a com- mensurate secondary literature. And philo- sophically speaking, there is perhaps no comparable personality in the whole his- tory of science (with the exception of Archi- medes) whose work is as strikingly aphilo- sophical as Huygens's is at the level of philosophical theorizing. Yet those who believe that implicit philosophy is at least as important as the explicit kind can find rich and deep philosophical concepts inher- ent in his scientific practice (as, for example, Aant Elzinga's monograph shows). These puzzles were not so much solved as made more apparent at the 1979 Amsterdam Symposium celebrating the 350th anniver- sary of his birth, the invited papers of which are published in the present volume. For this very reason, I for one regard both the symposium and the book as a success gen- erally, since they do spark further needed interest in Huygens.

The volume begins with a brief biograph- ical sketch by H. J. M. Bos. There follows a useful chronology by J. A. van Maanen, including a bibliography of Huygens's publications up to the Opuscula posthuma of 1703. A. G. H. Bachrach then relates the family background and the nature of the influence on Huygens by his relatives, who held important social and political positions. In a historiographically sensitive paper Roger Hahn discusses Huygens's activities in France and dealings with French scientists, centering on his involvement in the foundation and initial direction of the Academie Royale des Sciences. M. B. Hall examines Huygens's scientific contacts with England, the main theme being the high regard he had for English science. In one of the more original papers, Robert S. West- man asks new questions about Huygens in general and his relationship to Cartesian- ism in particular, breaks new ground by analyzing some important but neglected material (such as his notes on a copy of Adrien Baillet's Life of Descartes), and reaches the novel and essentially correct conclusion that "Huygens' brilliance lay in

tic. Historically speaking, his contributions to mathematics, mechanics, astronomy, instrumentation, and scientific organization were first-rank; yet this is not reflected in the influence he exerted on scientific pos- terity. Historiographically, the twenty-two volumes of his Oeuvres completes probably constitute the most complete and informa- tive critical edition available for any com- parable figure; yet historians of science have not been motivated to produce a com- mensurate secondary literature. And philo- sophically speaking, there is perhaps no comparable personality in the whole his- tory of science (with the exception of Archi- medes) whose work is as strikingly aphilo- sophical as Huygens's is at the level of philosophical theorizing. Yet those who believe that implicit philosophy is at least as important as the explicit kind can find rich and deep philosophical concepts inher- ent in his scientific practice (as, for example, Aant Elzinga's monograph shows). These puzzles were not so much solved as made more apparent at the 1979 Amsterdam Symposium celebrating the 350th anniver- sary of his birth, the invited papers of which are published in the present volume. For this very reason, I for one regard both the symposium and the book as a success gen- erally, since they do spark further needed interest in Huygens.

The volume begins with a brief biograph- ical sketch by H. J. M. Bos. There follows a useful chronology by J. A. van Maanen, including a bibliography of Huygens's publications up to the Opuscula posthuma of 1703. A. G. H. Bachrach then relates the family background and the nature of the influence on Huygens by his relatives, who held important social and political positions. In a historiographically sensitive paper Roger Hahn discusses Huygens's activities in France and dealings with French scientists, centering on his involvement in the foundation and initial direction of the Academie Royale des Sciences. M. B. Hall examines Huygens's scientific contacts with England, the main theme being the high regard he had for English science. In one of the more original papers, Robert S. West- man asks new questions about Huygens in general and his relationship to Cartesian- ism in particular, breaks new ground by analyzing some important but neglected material (such as his notes on a copy of Adrien Baillet's Life of Descartes), and reaches the novel and essentially correct conclusion that "Huygens' brilliance lay in

137 137

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BOOK REVIEWS-ISIS, 73: 1: 266 (1982) BOOK REVIEWS-ISIS, 73: 1: 266 (1982)

his ability to seek out and define 'middle grounds' in several dimensions" (p. 100). Although I would argue that this conclu- sion does not follow from Westman's own evidence but can be established indepen- dently, his paper remains one of the most interesting and substantial ones. Next, H. A. M. Snelders gives an account of Huy- gens's theory of matter as being partly Gassendian and partly Cartesian. In what is perhaps the only paper that effectively combines readability and technicalities, H. J. M. Bos discusses Huygens's contri- butions to mathematics: his theory of prob- ability focused on the definition of expecta- tion, the theory of evolutes, and many theorems about transcendental curves inverse calculus problems. For Bos, the power and the limitations of Huygens's mathematics lie in his classical style, which consists of an Archimedean rigor of proof emphasizing reductio ad absurdum, a geo- metrical intuition that makes visualizable figures primary and algebraic formulas secondary, and an axiomatic approach con- cerned with the formulation of intelligible axioms; Bos succeeds in his aim of convey- ing a sense of the beauty of Huygens's mathematics. Albert Van Helden examines Huygens's work on the rings of Saturn and the profound effect on positional astronomy due to his pendulum clock, micrometer, and measuring arcs with telescopic sights. Alan Gabbey interprets Huygens's mechan- ics as being Galilean-kinematic and as grounded upon Torricelli's Principle. Alan E. Shapiro discusses the details of Huy- gens's theory of light as a successful case of the "ability to rise above mechanism to mechanics" (p. 200). J. H. Leopold brings to light interesting details about Huygens's dealings with his instrument makers. In the collection's longest paper Michael S. Ma- honey argues, implicitly, that the measure- ment of time and of longitude at sea is the key concrete problem from which stem almost all of Huygens's activities and, explicitly, that his concrete work on this problem can best be understood as an inter- play between mathematical and physical theory and experimental and economic practice. Mahoney's evidence strikes me as overwhelming, and his thesis as fruitful and well established. H. F. Cohen discusses Huygens's not insignificant contributions to musicology. The collection ends with a judicious summary of the symposium by A. R. Hall.

I have already said that the volume is a

his ability to seek out and define 'middle grounds' in several dimensions" (p. 100). Although I would argue that this conclu- sion does not follow from Westman's own evidence but can be established indepen- dently, his paper remains one of the most interesting and substantial ones. Next, H. A. M. Snelders gives an account of Huy- gens's theory of matter as being partly Gassendian and partly Cartesian. In what is perhaps the only paper that effectively combines readability and technicalities, H. J. M. Bos discusses Huygens's contri- butions to mathematics: his theory of prob- ability focused on the definition of expecta- tion, the theory of evolutes, and many theorems about transcendental curves inverse calculus problems. For Bos, the power and the limitations of Huygens's mathematics lie in his classical style, which consists of an Archimedean rigor of proof emphasizing reductio ad absurdum, a geo- metrical intuition that makes visualizable figures primary and algebraic formulas secondary, and an axiomatic approach con- cerned with the formulation of intelligible axioms; Bos succeeds in his aim of convey- ing a sense of the beauty of Huygens's mathematics. Albert Van Helden examines Huygens's work on the rings of Saturn and the profound effect on positional astronomy due to his pendulum clock, micrometer, and measuring arcs with telescopic sights. Alan Gabbey interprets Huygens's mechan- ics as being Galilean-kinematic and as grounded upon Torricelli's Principle. Alan E. Shapiro discusses the details of Huy- gens's theory of light as a successful case of the "ability to rise above mechanism to mechanics" (p. 200). J. H. Leopold brings to light interesting details about Huygens's dealings with his instrument makers. In the collection's longest paper Michael S. Ma- honey argues, implicitly, that the measure- ment of time and of longitude at sea is the key concrete problem from which stem almost all of Huygens's activities and, explicitly, that his concrete work on this problem can best be understood as an inter- play between mathematical and physical theory and experimental and economic practice. Mahoney's evidence strikes me as overwhelming, and his thesis as fruitful and well established. H. F. Cohen discusses Huygens's not insignificant contributions to musicology. The collection ends with a judicious summary of the symposium by A. R. Hall.

I have already said that the volume is a

valuable one for the formulation of prob- lems in Huygens scholarship and for sug- gesting some promising lines of inquiry. Let me end by suggesting that the sympos- ium could have benefited by an explicit treatment of two problems that are indi- rectly and implicitly touched upon by al- most all contributors, namely the Galileo- Huygens connection and the philosophical- methodological import of Huygens's scien- tific work. By dealing with the first, one might have been able, for example, to prevent the surprise expressed by one par- ticipant (p. 97) at Huygens's explicit state- ment that Galileo was his model. Similarly, a philosophical paper might have been able to make sense of a number of interrelated striking features of Huygens, variously de- scribed by the contributors as eclecticism, lack of inner drive, concreteness, indepen- dent stance; such words are deeply sugges- tive, but they need conceptualization, and only eclectics will take them as a sign of Huygens's mere eclecticism.

MAURICE A. FINOCCHIARO

Karl J. Fink; James W. Marchand (Edi- tors). The Quest for the New Science: Lan- guage and Thought in Eighteenth-Century Science. ix + 101 pp., bibl., index. Carbon- dale/Edwardsville: Southern Illinois Uni- versity Press; London/Amsterdam: Feffer and Simons, 1979. $6.95.

This volume of some sixty pages with an additional thirty-four pages of notes, a selected bibliography, and an index is the outgrowth of a seminar on Giambattista Vico held in 1977 at a meeting of the Ameri- can Society for Eighteenth Century Studies in Victoria, Canada. Given the modest size, the enterprise indicated in the title seems rather ambitious, and-as one reads on-oddly conceived and executed. The four brief essays which constitute the major part of the book do not really concern themselves with the phenomenon of specu- lative natural science, the Naturphiloso- phie, as one might expect from the title and from Marchand's introduction. Rather, the authors are looking for the heirs of the Scienza nuova of Vico in the latter part of the eighteenth century, and they find them in Germany with writers like Herder, Goethe, and Schiller. The real subject of investigation, then, is the relationship of language to thought in the fields of art, cul- ture, education, and historiography, and

valuable one for the formulation of prob- lems in Huygens scholarship and for sug- gesting some promising lines of inquiry. Let me end by suggesting that the sympos- ium could have benefited by an explicit treatment of two problems that are indi- rectly and implicitly touched upon by al- most all contributors, namely the Galileo- Huygens connection and the philosophical- methodological import of Huygens's scien- tific work. By dealing with the first, one might have been able, for example, to prevent the surprise expressed by one par- ticipant (p. 97) at Huygens's explicit state- ment that Galileo was his model. Similarly, a philosophical paper might have been able to make sense of a number of interrelated striking features of Huygens, variously de- scribed by the contributors as eclecticism, lack of inner drive, concreteness, indepen- dent stance; such words are deeply sugges- tive, but they need conceptualization, and only eclectics will take them as a sign of Huygens's mere eclecticism.

MAURICE A. FINOCCHIARO

Karl J. Fink; James W. Marchand (Edi- tors). The Quest for the New Science: Lan- guage and Thought in Eighteenth-Century Science. ix + 101 pp., bibl., index. Carbon- dale/Edwardsville: Southern Illinois Uni- versity Press; London/Amsterdam: Feffer and Simons, 1979. $6.95.

This volume of some sixty pages with an additional thirty-four pages of notes, a selected bibliography, and an index is the outgrowth of a seminar on Giambattista Vico held in 1977 at a meeting of the Ameri- can Society for Eighteenth Century Studies in Victoria, Canada. Given the modest size, the enterprise indicated in the title seems rather ambitious, and-as one reads on-oddly conceived and executed. The four brief essays which constitute the major part of the book do not really concern themselves with the phenomenon of specu- lative natural science, the Naturphiloso- phie, as one might expect from the title and from Marchand's introduction. Rather, the authors are looking for the heirs of the Scienza nuova of Vico in the latter part of the eighteenth century, and they find them in Germany with writers like Herder, Goethe, and Schiller. The real subject of investigation, then, is the relationship of language to thought in the fields of art, cul- ture, education, and historiography, and

138 138

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