Histoire de l'astronomie by E. DoubletReview by: L. GuinetIsis, Vol. 5, No. 1 (1923), pp. 172-173Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/223618 .

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Isis. v. 1923 Isis. v. 1923

sakibata 1-lu'ab = the (two) dischargers of saliva. Ductus sublin-

guales minores or majores ? or ductus submandibulares (Warthoniani or submaxillares?) Texts from AL-RAZI and CALI IBN AL-'ABBAS quoted with KONING'S translations.

sumen (contracted from sugumen)-= . abdomen; 2. hypogastrium; 3. regio umbilica; 4 umbilicus; 5. corda umbilicalis.

al-tali' = les deux veines montantes (v. renales). al-tali' ayin. vermis (MUNDINUS).

zephin = articulatio mandibularis (from the Persian zarfin, a bar. or

ring of a door?) FONAHN'S glossary will be very helpful to students of medieval medi-

cine and to LEONARDO scholars. It is a pity that he did not add an index of modern anatomical terms referring to their medieval equiv- alents. GEORGE SARTON.

E. Doublet. - Histoire de l'astronomie, 572 p. (185 x 120). Paris, GASTON DOIN, 1922.

Sans se poser la question de la toute primitive origine de la science du ciel, DOUBLET s'est efforce de remonter aussi loin que possible dans l'histoire de l'astronomie, et non dans celle des doctrines cosmogo- niques, non seulement chez les peuples appartenant au monde classique, mais aussi chez les Chinois, dont on a pu retrouver quelques obser- vations tres precises, remontant au xIe siecle avant l'ere chretienne, chez les Hindous, chez les Mexicains et les Peruviens avant l'arrivee des Espagnols en Amerique. Mais. on le con9oit, il a fait une part beaucoup plus grande aux Grecs, et surtout aux peuples modernes. C'est a l'histoire de l'astronomie depuis la Renaissance, qu'est consacree la majeure partie de l'ouvrage, qui s'etend jusqu'a la fin du xixe siecle, et se termine par quelques considerations sur l'avenir des etudes astro-

nomiques. Bourre de faits, un peu touffu, et cependant d'une lecture tres

attachante, ce livre est, en meme temps qu'une histoire de 1'astro-

nomie, une histoire des astronomes, des observatoires, et des principaux historiens de la science, de JEAN-FRLEDRIC WEIDLER a PIERRE DUHEM, de la pensee duquel on trouve peut-etre comme un reflet dans l'oeuvre de DOUBLET.

Malheureusement, les dimensions de l'Encyclopedie scientifique dont elle fait partie n'ont pas permis a l'auteur de s'etendre sur les progres de l'astronomie dans les pays extra-europeens, ni sur le prodigieux developpement des etudes d'astronomie physique. C'est a la meme raison sans doute qu'il faut attribuer le fait qu'il n'est point question de l'influence certaine exercee par l'astrologie sur le developpement

sakibata 1-lu'ab = the (two) dischargers of saliva. Ductus sublin-

guales minores or majores ? or ductus submandibulares (Warthoniani or submaxillares?) Texts from AL-RAZI and CALI IBN AL-'ABBAS quoted with KONING'S translations.

sumen (contracted from sugumen)-= . abdomen; 2. hypogastrium; 3. regio umbilica; 4 umbilicus; 5. corda umbilicalis.

al-tali' = les deux veines montantes (v. renales). al-tali' ayin. vermis (MUNDINUS).

zephin = articulatio mandibularis (from the Persian zarfin, a bar. or

ring of a door?) FONAHN'S glossary will be very helpful to students of medieval medi-

cine and to LEONARDO scholars. It is a pity that he did not add an index of modern anatomical terms referring to their medieval equiv- alents. GEORGE SARTON.

E. Doublet. - Histoire de l'astronomie, 572 p. (185 x 120). Paris, GASTON DOIN, 1922.

Sans se poser la question de la toute primitive origine de la science du ciel, DOUBLET s'est efforce de remonter aussi loin que possible dans l'histoire de l'astronomie, et non dans celle des doctrines cosmogo- niques, non seulement chez les peuples appartenant au monde classique, mais aussi chez les Chinois, dont on a pu retrouver quelques obser- vations tres precises, remontant au xIe siecle avant l'ere chretienne, chez les Hindous, chez les Mexicains et les Peruviens avant l'arrivee des Espagnols en Amerique. Mais. on le con9oit, il a fait une part beaucoup plus grande aux Grecs, et surtout aux peuples modernes. C'est a l'histoire de l'astronomie depuis la Renaissance, qu'est consacree la majeure partie de l'ouvrage, qui s'etend jusqu'a la fin du xixe siecle, et se termine par quelques considerations sur l'avenir des etudes astro-

nomiques. Bourre de faits, un peu touffu, et cependant d'une lecture tres

attachante, ce livre est, en meme temps qu'une histoire de 1'astro-

nomie, une histoire des astronomes, des observatoires, et des principaux historiens de la science, de JEAN-FRLEDRIC WEIDLER a PIERRE DUHEM, de la pensee duquel on trouve peut-etre comme un reflet dans l'oeuvre de DOUBLET.

Malheureusement, les dimensions de l'Encyclopedie scientifique dont elle fait partie n'ont pas permis a l'auteur de s'etendre sur les progres de l'astronomie dans les pays extra-europeens, ni sur le prodigieux developpement des etudes d'astronomie physique. C'est a la meme raison sans doute qu'il faut attribuer le fait qu'il n'est point question de l'influence certaine exercee par l'astrologie sur le developpement

172 172

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de l'astronomie, et que quelques pages seulement sont reservees a

1'expose des idees des principaux astronomes sur la distribution des etoiles dans l'espace, et sur les questions cosmogoniques.

(Bruxelles ) L. GUINET.

Aldo Mieli. - Pagine di Storia del/a chimica, xxini+254 p., 16 illust.

e ritratto dell' autore. Roma, Casa editrice LEONARDO DA VINCI, 1922. [L. 18].

The activity of our friend MIELI is almost uncanny. One would imagine that the field of the history of science should suffice to satisfy the most insatiable curiosity, the most consuming greed of knowledge. Well, it did not suffice for MIELI ! He felt cramped within it and he has just added to this apparently boundless province one equally vast, the study of sexuality. He has become the editor of a very good journal devoted to these questions, the Rassegna di studi sessuali, and of a series of volumes, the Publicazioni della Societa italiana per lo studio delle questione sessuali. And even that was not yet enough ! He decided to become like the late Prince BALDASSARE

BONCOMPAGNI, his own publisher and his own printer. It takes a lot of courage in these troubled days to add to one's scientific work the responsibilities of a commercial undertaking. I hope that MIELI

will bear the load easily but I can not help feeling a little anxious. Be careful, MI:r,i ! your best friends and all those who wish you well entreat you to husband your energy.

To come back to the Pag'ine, this is the first of a series of three volumes of his collected essays on the history of chemistry. Many of these essays are already familiar to the reader; one of them wherein the ideas of ANAXAGORAS were compared with the modern

theory of phases appeared in Isis, t. 1, 370-376. They have all the same qualities of relative accuracy and clearness but they suffer somewhat from a lack of condensation. Of course we must take into account their special nature: a collection of essays is always inferior in many respects to a book planned as a whole and written consecutively within a relatively short time. The lack of unity is perhaps more noticeable in the third part dealing with the origin and development of alchemy, the transmutation of metals and the alchemists of the Renaissance. This part is divided as follows: Evolution of alchemy; discovery of alcohol; TADDEO ALDER OTI; discovery of the mineral acids ; theory of metals in medieval times ; appreciation of alchemy during the Italian Renaissance; AL-BiRUNI and his views on alchemy. The first part is a study on the periods in the development of chemistry and the second an account of the theory of substances in

de l'astronomie, et que quelques pages seulement sont reservees a

1'expose des idees des principaux astronomes sur la distribution des etoiles dans l'espace, et sur les questions cosmogoniques.

(Bruxelles ) L. GUINET.

Aldo Mieli. - Pagine di Storia del/a chimica, xxini+254 p., 16 illust.

e ritratto dell' autore. Roma, Casa editrice LEONARDO DA VINCI, 1922. [L. 18].

The activity of our friend MIELI is almost uncanny. One would imagine that the field of the history of science should suffice to satisfy the most insatiable curiosity, the most consuming greed of knowledge. Well, it did not suffice for MIELI ! He felt cramped within it and he has just added to this apparently boundless province one equally vast, the study of sexuality. He has become the editor of a very good journal devoted to these questions, the Rassegna di studi sessuali, and of a series of volumes, the Publicazioni della Societa italiana per lo studio delle questione sessuali. And even that was not yet enough ! He decided to become like the late Prince BALDASSARE

BONCOMPAGNI, his own publisher and his own printer. It takes a lot of courage in these troubled days to add to one's scientific work the responsibilities of a commercial undertaking. I hope that MIELI

will bear the load easily but I can not help feeling a little anxious. Be careful, MI:r,i ! your best friends and all those who wish you well entreat you to husband your energy.

To come back to the Pag'ine, this is the first of a series of three volumes of his collected essays on the history of chemistry. Many of these essays are already familiar to the reader; one of them wherein the ideas of ANAXAGORAS were compared with the modern

theory of phases appeared in Isis, t. 1, 370-376. They have all the same qualities of relative accuracy and clearness but they suffer somewhat from a lack of condensation. Of course we must take into account their special nature: a collection of essays is always inferior in many respects to a book planned as a whole and written consecutively within a relatively short time. The lack of unity is perhaps more noticeable in the third part dealing with the origin and development of alchemy, the transmutation of metals and the alchemists of the Renaissance. This part is divided as follows: Evolution of alchemy; discovery of alcohol; TADDEO ALDER OTI; discovery of the mineral acids ; theory of metals in medieval times ; appreciation of alchemy during the Italian Renaissance; AL-BiRUNI and his views on alchemy. The first part is a study on the periods in the development of chemistry and the second an account of the theory of substances in

173 173 REVIEWS REVIEWS

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