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This contribution focuses on two Arabic alchemical treatises that circulated under the name of the 10th century philosopher, physician, and alchemist Muḥammad ibn Zakarīya al-Rāzī: the genuine Book of Secrets (Kitāb al-Asrār) and the spurious Book on Alums and Salts. The two treatises are discussed in the context of al-Rāzī’s genuine and spurious production and of their reception among Western scholars. By examining the contents and structural features of these two treatises, this work seeks to shed light on the relationship between perceived authority, structure, and laboratory practice in medieval alchemy.

Scholarly demand to re-evaluate underappreciated cultures has grown since the 1980s. This generated a call to re-write the nineteenth-century narrative on the transmission of knowledge from the ancient Near East to the Graeco-Roman, Islamic, Western medieval, and early modern European world. The paper surveys the modern study of Byzantine translations from Arabic into Greek in order to propose a new narrative frame, no longer linear but attentive to continuous and bi-directional contact between medieval civilisations. The paper offers the contact between Byzantium and various parts of the Islamic world as an example. It discusses the presumed insularity of Byzantine literary culture and its relationship with ancient Greek literary heritage. Problems of dating, localising, and socially contextualising the translations (through information on their authors and patrons) are also examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many people assume ceaseless conflict between natural science and Christianity, but the real conflict has been between scientism and Christianity. Scientism is the view that only the sciences (especially not theology) generate knowledge or rational belief. I show how Christianity generated rational beliefs that contributed to the rise of science. This science-fostering rational belief included rationales for when to practice methodological naturalism, and when to study nature without that restriction. Both practices cultivated science, though in different ways. This historical difference is of enduring value for recent debates about metaphysical naturalism (atheism), creationism, theistic evolution, and intelligent design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This roundtable brings together contributions from nine senior, mid-career and junior scholars who work on the history of science in pre-1800 Islamicate societies. The contributions reflect upon some of the challenges that have historically constrained the subfield, how they have sought to overcome them, and what they see as some of the more productive and fruitful turns the field has taken and/or should take in the future. A central trend in all contributions is how they seek to confront the combined weight of colonialism, Orientalism, and the teleological history of science that continues to haunt contemporary discussions in both academia and the general public with regards to science in pre-1800 Islamicate societies. Without diminishing the pioneering achievements of the generations of historians who have preceded us, and upon whose work we continue to rely, this combined weight has tended a) to marginalize the study of occult sciences in Islamicate societies; b) to emphasize investigations of content from an etic perspective of how we got to the present, which is primarily seen as how the scientific content is connected to the rise of modern science in Europe; and c) to concomitantly marginalize the study of science in post-1200 Islamicate societies, particularly those with little to no connection to the rise of "Western" science. The contributions build upon conversations that took place among participants in December 2019 at a workshop at New York University (NYU), Abu Dhabi Institute in New York City, funded by a grant from NYU Abu Dhabi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time was a problem in medieval South Asia. It was – among other things – a medical problem that philosophers and physicians set out to solve. The complexities of medical practice – which entailed considering an almost infinite set of variables and combinations – meant that no normal person could possibly derive the principles of medicine in a single lifetime. There was too much to know and too little time. This meant that medical practitioners had to rely on the words of other people to carry out their cures. Practicing medicine depended on trusting the proper authorities. This article follows the arguments of two philosophers employed in royal courts in the 9th century – Jayanta Bhaṭṭa and Ugrāditya – who constructed arguments about how to relate to the textualized past of medicine in Sanskrit. Both scholars accepted that the temporalities of knowledge necessitated that medicine was originally propounded by an omniscient individual. But they disagreed on who counted as an authority and on the value of the Sanskrit medical classics. The article uses these scholars to show the temporalities of medicine in pre-colonial South Asia as multiple, shifting and contested. Moving beyond binaries of historical and mythic time in colonial and pre-colonial South Asia, this article attends to the work of medieval scholars to explicate the multiple rhythms of time that existed side-by-side prior to the epistemic violence of colonialism and the rise of modern Ayurveda.

Time was a problem in medieval South Asia. It was, among other things, an epistemic and a medical problem that philosophers and physicians set out to solve. The complexities of medical practice, which entailed considering an almost infinite set of variables and combinations, meant that no normal person could possibly derive the principles of medicine in a single lifetime. There was too much to know and too little time. This meant that medical practitioners had to rely on the words of other people to carry out their medicine. Practicing medicine depended on trusting the proper authorities. This article follows the arguments of two philosophers employed in royal courts in the ninth century--Jayanta Bhatia and Ugrāditya--who constructed arguments about how to relate to the textualized past of medicine in Sanskrit. Both scholars accepted that the temporalities of knowledge necessitated that medicine was originally propounded by an omniscient individual. But they disagreed on who counted as an authority and on the value of the Sanskrit medical classics. The article uses these scholars to show the temporalities of medicine in pre-colonial South Asia as multiple, shifting and contested. Moving beyond binaries of historical and mythic time in colonial and pre-colonial South Asia, this article attends to the work of medieval scholars to explicate the multiple rhythms of time that existed side-by-side prior to the epistemic violence of colonialism and the rise of modern Ayurveda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many people assume ceaseless conflict between natural science and Christianity, but the real conflict has been between scientism and Christianity. Scientism is the view that only the sciences (especially not theology) generate knowledge or rational belief. I show how Christianity generated rational beliefs that contributed to the rise of science. This science-fostering rational belief included rationales for when to practice methodological naturalism, and when to study nature without that restriction. Both practices cultivated science, though in different ways. This historical difference is of enduring value for recent debates about metaphysical naturalism (atheism), creationism, theistic evolution, and intelligent design.

Exeter Riddle 22 tells the story of how 60 riders and 15 horses are unable to cross a body of water until a 'wægn' ('wagon') miraculously transports them to the other shore. Several solutions have been proposed, but none are entirely satisfactory. This article uses medieval scientific lore, as well as the medieval coastal landscape and comparative readings of Old English, Latin and Old Norse texts, to propose a new solution explaining all aspects of the riddle—the full moon. Riddle 22 requires not only an awareness of the relationship between the lunar and tidal cycles, but also a knowledge of the computistical formulae that were taught in monastic schools. The horses and the riders represent the hours of moonlight and the 'wægn' represents the moon itself. Additionally, the riddle draws upon images of the coastal landscape, as the riddle also depicts the crossing of a tidal causeway. Solving the riddle in this way is a transformative experience for the scientifically literate reader, who comes to recognize—as per Augustine—that prosaic, repeatable events in nature are everyday miracles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In examining the roles of the shadow (umbra) in medieval science, this paper analyses a hitherto unstudied early fourteenth-century optical treatise with the incipit Perspectiva cum sit una (PCSU), which, on the basis of medieval evidence, may arguably be attributed to Thomas Bradwardine. The third part of this treatise, on shadows, presents the doctrine of three shadow shapes – a doctrine which was popular in pre-modern optics and astronomy and was important in explaining eclipses – as well as the theory of umbra recta and versa , parallels of (co)tangent functions, which were essential for (instrumental) measurements. While the bulk of the treatise draws on John Peckham's Perspectiva communis , an extensive analysis of medieval canons to astronomical tables, manuals of practical geometry and texts on instruments leads us to Campanus of Novara's Practica quadrantis as the chief source of the last chapter of PCSU. Finally, the paper reflects on whether the light-centred conception of optics embodied in the PCSU may echo an alternative current to the otherwise predominantly sight-centred approach in pre-modern optics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Saeculum - Revista de História (0104-8929) is the property of Saeculum - Revista de Historia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the first half of the eleventh century, a group of scholars in southwest India did something new. They began composing systematic texts about everyday life in a register of language sometimes called New Kannada. While looking back toward earlier texts composed in Sanskrit – and even translating portions of them – these scholars centered their poetic ability and their personal experiences as opposed to prior authoritative texts. They described themselves as authoring "worldly sciences" that were "useful to the people of the world," and they provided extensive reflections on the systematics of knowledge. Epistemic, linguistic, and political concerns were significantly renegotiated in this moment as local context was turned into a virtue for the production of technical treatises. This article uses this moment to interrogate recent discussions of useful knowledge and vernacular science. Usefulness can mean different things at different times and vernacular sciences change according to their language. This article argues for a usage of both terms that is more attuned to historical particulars. A history of useful knowledge from a place that now appears under the double effacement of the non-modern and non-West offers an opportunity to think through central concepts of the history of science without relying on economic or utilitarian discourses. This paper presents one possible example of what a more global history of useful knowledge might look like. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Oriental Studies (Al-Farabi Kazakh National University) / Kazahskij Nacional'nyj Universitet Imeni Al'-Farabi Vestnik Seriâ Vostokovedeniâ is the property of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In his treatise On the Rainbow (De iride), composed nearly four hundred years before the first known telescope, the English polymath Robert Grosseteste identified three striking optical effects: distant objects can be rendered close by; close-by large objects can be rendered small; and distant small objects can be rendered large. In the context of the history of optics, the first effect is especially striking. Grosseteste did not give details of the mechanisms underlying these effects but did mention the passage of rays through refraction in "diaphanous" or transparent bodies. While making no final claim that Grosseteste himself necessarily knew of or used lenses, this essay examines the coherence between the three optical effects described in Grosseteste's treatise and two candidate proposals for the deployment of a single convex lens. A convex lens, deployed in different ways, is shown to produce all three of Grosseteste's optical effects, in a manner strikingly aligned with the language that he uses to distinguish changes in the location and size of objects. The implications of this coherence for interpretations of On the Rainbow are discussed throughout the essay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some of Abraham ibn Ezra’s philosophical ideas exposed in his biblical commentaries are the same as those of Aristotle. The purpose of this article is to analyse some of the Aristotelian ideas appearing in Abraham ibn Ezra’s biblical commentaries and explain how he adapts the Aristotelian concepts to the explanation of the specific biblical verses. Ibn Ezra uses these concepts in his explanation of the structure of the Universe as found in some Psalms, the creation of the world in Genesis 1, and the origin of evil according to the book of Ecclesiastes. This paper also attempts to provide a hypothesis on how Ibn Ezra was able to apprehend Aristotelian philosophy.

This article provides the first discussion of the unpublished treatise De crepusculis ("On twilight"), written in the second half of the thirteenth century by the Dominican scholar Giles of Lessines. It is shown that De crepusculis was intended as a critical supplement to a treatise on the height of the atmosphere by Ibn Muʿādh (eleventh century). In this supplement, Giles recapitulates Ibn Muʿādh's geometrical arguments while furnishing proofs and covering relevant questions not included in the earlier work. One area where Giles greatly expands on his predecessor is in addressing relevant physical questions such as the causes of stellar luminosity. Giles here takes a nuanced view, acknowledging that all celestial bodies emit some form of light. He also provides a unique explanation of the blue colour of the sky, which draws on the extramission postulate used by thirteenth-century writers on optics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work follows the acceptance of alchemy in the late medieval Czech lands where alchemy emerged approximately 100 years later than in Western Europe. The biggest progress of alchemy comes under the rule of Charles IV when new terms for alchemy and alchemist appear. Further development of alchemy was interrupted during the rule of Wenceslaus IV and the Hussite wars with the first Czech work on alchem being published no earlier than 1457. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstrait: Dans la communication sur les terminologies médiévales et les sciences respectives est examiné un recueil de textes médicaux serbes du Moyen âge (XIIe–XVe siècles), intitulé le Code médical du Chilandar, retrouvé en 1952 dans la bibliothèque du monastère serbe Chilandar au mont Athos (en Grèce), et il est comparé à la tradition médicale et pharmacologique en latin des grandes écoles médiévales occidentales. Dans le cadre des oppositions entre les langues et cultures, on verra qu' on ne peut indiquer les référents des expressions sans connaître le monde duquel ces référents sont prélevés. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is dedicated to the terms used to denominate bodily fluids in the works of the first Bulgarian naturalist. It is part of an extensive project dedicated to Medieval Bulgarian terminology. The results of the project are presented in the dictionary (ТРЙE / TRJE). The object of the analysis are the terms used to designate the four fluids (кръвь ‘blood’, глѣнъ ‘mucus’, жлътаꙗ кроучина 'yellow bile&' and чрьнаꙗ кроучина that compose the human body. The linguistic material is collected from Hexameron (Aitzetmüller 1958) and De fide Ortodoxa (Sadnik 1967) by John the Exarch. The analysis is based on the concept that terminology is not an autonomous system, but is a subsystem of the literary language. The analysis of the terms is based on their meaning and content. The motivation of the terms is influenced by the Hippocratic doctrine of humor, according to which the abundance of a fluid has an influence on human behavior. At the end of the article, we have concluded that the terms кръвь, глѣнъ, жлътаꙗ кроучина and чрьнаꙗ кроучина are not the contemporary names used for corporal fluids blood, bile, mucus. They are metaphoric names of substances that connect the human body with nature and that rule human emotions and behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jean des Murs benefited from his connections to the Collège de Sorbonne, of which he was a member at least between 1321–1324 and the end of the 1330s. His annotations in various manuscripts formerly at the Sorbonne show that he took great advantage of the college library. Although few extant manuscripts are certain to have been Jean des Murs's own, the list of book loans in MS El Escorial, Real Biblioteca de San Lorenzo, O.II.10, shows that he had a personal library and that he loaned his books to some of his acquaintances. This article aims at analysing some of the uses Jean des Murs made of the manuscripts available to him as well as reconstructing part of his personal library through the list of loans and extant manuscripts linked to him. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Irish Astronomical Tract is a 14th−15th century Gaelic document, based mainly on a Latin translation of the eighth-century Jewish astronomer Messahala. It contains a passage about the sun illusion—the apparent enlargement of celestial bodies when near the horizon compared to higher in the sky. This passage occurs in a chapter concerned with proving that the Earth is a globe rather than flat. Here the author denies that the change in size is caused by a change in the sun’s distance, and instead ascribes it (incorrectly) to magnification by atmospheric vapours, likening it to the bending of light when looking from air to water or through glass spectacles. This section does not occur in the Latin version of Messahala. The Irish author may have based the vapour account on Aristotle, Ptolemy or Cleomedes, or on later authors that relied on them. He seems to have been unaware of alternative perceptual explanations. The refraction explanation persists today in folk science.

Development of logic into a science served as an instrument for the progress in natural philosophy and the scientific method in the 6th and 5th Centuries BC in China, India, and the Arabian world, the Middle East, the Ancient Greece and Rome. Rapid advancements in natural sciences were followed by systematic attempts to organize knowledge in the 4th to 1st Centuries BC in the Greek and the Hellenistic world, reaching maturity in the Roman Empire after the 2nd Century AD. Parallel development of philosophy, science and technology can be traced in the East too. The essentially random growth of machines and mechanisms driven by the pressure of necessity was followed by the development of complicated machines using design rules and concepts in a systematic way, and not arrived at empirically through a process of long evolution, were investigated very early in history. The influence of natural philosophy in classical times to the development of mechanics and engineering as a science from the 5th century B.C. to the Middle-Ages is discussed here.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are good reasons to think that there was a body of truths generally accepted by the scientific community under Abbasid rule during the middle ages. However, the indicators initially established by the scientonomy community to guide us in reconstructing past mosaics are not applicable in the case of the medieval Arabic scientific mosaic. Instead, by attending to the particular way that knowledge was disseminated in this community, we can see the primacy of the concepts passed down in authoritative texts. It is proposed here that a good way of determining which texts, and therefore theories, were accepted would be by tracking the unique record of licenses to teach [ʾijāzāt] particular texts that exist from this period. Suggested Modifications [Sciento-2017-0003]: Accept the following propositions concerning MASM in c. 750-1258 CE in the Abbasid caliphate: • Authoritative texts are indicative of theories accepted in MASM. • Licenses to teach [ʾijāzāt] are reliable indicators of which texts were considered authoritative in MASM. Accept that the following method ought to be employed when reconstructing the theories accepted in MASM: • Teaching License Method: A proposition can be said to be accepted in MASM if the evidence of the licenses to teach [ʾijāzāt] indicates so.

The article offers information on various works on English poet Geoffrey Chaucer. Alexander Gabrovsky’s "Chaucer the Alchemist: Physics, Mutability, and the Medieval Imagination" examines the influence of medieval sciences on Chaucer. He expands the range of Chaucerian texts by approaching the subject in terms of change and transformation.

El artículo discurre sobre la relación entre el cristianismo, el judaísmo y el islam en cuanto a la ciencia y al conocimiento erudito. El autor comenta sobre el reino de Alfonso X de Castilla, España, de 1221 a 1284, y examina su énfasis en el estudio científico y en la filosofía natural. También se considera la influencia de estas tres religiones en el desarrollo científico.

Author Zachary A. Matus sets thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Franciscan alchemists Roger Bacon, John of Rupescissa, and Vitalis of Furno against the backdrop of late medieval social and spiritual turmoil. This upheaval is exemplified by repeated denunciations of alchemy by the Church. The work of these three alchemists cannot by separated from their Christian and, specifically, Franciscan beliefs and rituals. Matus never argues that a distinctively Franciscan alchemy existed. What unites these authors was the use of alchemy in the service of spiritual warfare with the Antichrist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The invention and spread of the mechanical clock is a complex and multifaceted historical phenomenon. Some of these facets, such as its social impact, have been widely studied, but their scientific dimensions have often been dismissed. The mechanical clock was probably born as a scientific instrument for driving a model of the universe, and not only natural philosophers but also kings, nobles and other members of the social elites showed an interest in clocks as scientific instruments. Public clocks later spread a new way of telling time based on equal hours, laying the foundations for changes in time consciousness that would accelerate scientific thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]