Abstract
This chapter deals with the first of the compendia topics important to generation.
The Elements
‘Elements’ were usually defined as the simplest of material constituents. The four writers I have chosen are Fernel (1542); Gaspar Contarenus or Contarini (1483-1542: published 1548); Jacobus Sylvius (1550) and Joannes Baptista Montanus (1498-1531: published 1554). For these writers, the physical world was made up not of one element, but four. On the whole they lie within a common tradition, and at some points are strikingly similar. I think there are three major points. The first is that all of our examples assume some form (or forms) of a four-element theory, based ultimately on that of Aristotle. Secondly, there are areas of confusion among three possible forms of the four-element theory itself, confusions which these writers reflect in various ways. This confusion began with Aristotle. The third point: the suggestion, made most strongly by Fernel, that the elements in their classical form are not enough to explain the material composition and structure of the world, much less the life-activities of plants and animals. A second (or even third or fourth) layer of explanation is necessary: temperament, innate heat and spirits, the soul; or the divine actions of the quintessence and of ‘aethereal heat’.
Temperaments
Temperament explains the body’s function. The commentaries of Sylvius and Montanus are very short. Contarini studies temperament types describes the relationship of the four primary qualities with greater complexity and precision than Galen. Function requires a soul, according to Fernel. This makes it difficult to explain the function of the body by appeal to temperament. Whatever the level of explanation – temperament, faculty, soul – it is ultimately related to the one bit of evidence the doctor has at his disposal, the actions of the living body in health and disease. Galen created confusions of terminology (such as the multiple meanings of the verb ‘to heat’). These were not of great moment to those (such as Montanus and Sylvius) who were chiefly concerned to interpret the Galenic texts for medical students. But they presented greater difficulties for those (such as Contarini and Fernel) who approached the problem on a more sophisticated philosophical level. Unlike temperament, which can be explained by touch as well as by its actions, and related to the assumed structure of the rest of the physical world at the level of the elements, soul is an unknown substance. Its use advances physiological understanding very little.
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Notes
- 1.
For a compact if somewhat overschematic treatment of early single-element theories, cf. Hall, op. cit. 1969; I, chapters 3, 4, 7, 9.
- 2.
Fernel, op. cit., 1542; Gasperis Contareni de Elementis & eorum mixtionibus libri quinque… Paris, 1548; Jacobus Sylvius, in Galeni de Elementis; Lyons, 1550; In Hippocratis Elementa Jacobi Sylvii Medici Commentarius, p. 105; Joannes Baptista Montanus, Methodus..de Elementis, Vienna, 1554. See also Thorndike, History, V, pp. 550–562, for an account of the element theory of Fernel, Contarini, Antonio Luiz and Walther Hermann Ryff; Nardi, Saggi, p. 240–248 for the De elementis of Alessandro Achillini, which considers the question of generation of living things in the context of the natural-philosophical doctrine of forms. For medieval commentaries de elementis, see Richard C. Dales, “Anonymi ‘De elementis’ from a twelfth century collection of scientific works in BM MS. Cotton Galba E IV” Isis, 1965, 56: 174–89; and “Marius ‘On the elements’ and the twelfth century science of matter”, Viator, 1972, 3: 191–218.
- 3.
Galen, and most modern scholars, consider that this work was not by Hippocrates, but (probably) by his son-in-law Polybus. Renaissance medical writers, however, had no qualms in attributing it to Hippocrates himself, and it is their practice which I shall follow.
- 4.
The major sources for Aristotle’s theory of the elements are De Generatione et Corruptione, especially Book II; De Caelo, Books III and IV; Meteorologica, Book I, chapters 1–3 and Book IV, especially chapter 12; and as background, discussions of matter, form and motion in the Physics.
- 5.
Hippocrates, De natura humana ed. cit.: the mechanical separation of qualities in the embryo is more fully described in De semine.
- 6.
Op. cit. note 2.“Hippocratis librum de Elementis” is the work De natura humana. It is worth noting that both the Galenic treatise and that by Sylvius are described in this edition as commentaries on the Hippocratic work: p. 1, De elementis, describes it as “Galeni de Elementis ex Hippocratis sententia” a description which really applies to Book II.
- 7.
Ibid. pp. 2, 26–8, 31–3.
- 8.
Ibid. pp. 16–18, 34–37, 50–1. The argument is taken from Aristotle, e.g. G & C II ii & iii, viii; Meterologica, IV i 378b-379a. Both Aristotle and Galen support this with evidence that all four elements are taken in as food.
- 9.
Ibid. p. 56: “Is ex primis simplicissimisque his sensibilis elementis constat, quae similaria appellantur: nempe fibra, membrana, carne, adipe, osse, cartilagine, ligamento, nervo, medulla atque etiam omnibus aliis, quorum universae particulae eandem omnino formam retinent, quae et ipsae quoque ex aliis quibusdam ipsis proximis gignuntur elementis, ex sanguine nimirum, & pituita, & bile utraque, pallida & atra, quae item ab illis ortum habent, quibus vescimur, quaeque potamus, at haec ex aere, igne, aqua et terra gignuntur..”
- 10.
De elementis, pp. 64–5: “particulae horum utrounque in minima infringuntur, moxque inter se mutuo agunt & patiuntur, & eo facilius sibi invicem qualitates impartiuntur, quo fuerint in minutiora redacta..”
- 11.
Ibid. pp. 38–42, 54, 56, 59–60.
- 12.
Ibid. 66–7; 80–3; 68–9: “Ecquid ergo ex eadem omnia procreata sunt substantia? Vel potius sagax rerum opifex natura, quo primum tempore ex sanguine ab ipsa matre in uterum delato foetum procreabat atque efformabat, quod in eo crassius erat ad solidiora corpora constituenda attraxit; quod vero tenuis, ad molliora; & simili etiam modo, quod calidius erat, ad calidiora, & etiam quod frigidius, ad frigidiora. Et sanè mihi videtur quidem longe esse magis naturae consentaneum, & statim ab ipsis initiis formari foetum, ac subsequenti etiam tempore universo unamquamque particulam suum habere alimentum augmentumque ex propria peculiarique materia. Nam sanguis, ut lac etiam, una quaedam res videtur, ratio tamen docet illum non esse unum, sicut nec lac.”
- 13.
Ibid. pp. 84–5; 87–91 (i.e. chapters vii, viii, ix, x).
- 14.
Ibid. p. 105: “Sperma autem tam viri quam mulieris, & sanguis maternus, nostrae generationis principia, illud [c]eu forma, hic tanquam materia, ambo ex elementis quatuor conflata, sed interventu humorum quatuor sanguinem constituentium.” Galen (De elementis 48–9) also distinguished between a principle and an element: a principle is not necessarily of the same genus as the thing of which it is the principle; an element is. Neither Galen nor Sylvius make this distinction clear in practice. For Fernel (see below) “principle” seems to be identified with the formal, “element” with the material aspect in the context of generation.
- 15.
Ibid. pp. 105–7.
- 16.
Ibid. pp. 107–9.
- 17.
Ibid. pp. 111–113; “Haec ipse divinus calor semini animalium atque plantarum insitus per se molitur, sed divinum addidi quod calor, qua calor est, heterogenea quidem illa separat ac dissipat, & homogenea cogit, qua vero divinus est, cerebralem in semine portionem sursum distribuit, & cranii portionem ex eodem semine secretam, ipsi cerebro circumponit: cordis portionem, in medio pulmone & thorace, mediam ex ipso semine secrevit, pulmonariam vero thoracicamque in semine portionem cordi circumdedit, eademque iustissima ipsius oeconomia, in reliquis partibus effulsit… Idem calor in semine divinus, seu spiritus ille calidus, & nostri formator, venas, arterias, canalesque reliquos, & cavitates sensu manifestas, atque etiam obscuras..fistulat, easque quibus maxime ad actionem, aut usum convenit, applicat & adaperit.. Quid non facit? idem quibusdam, aut anima, aut primum ac principalissimum animae instrumentum censetur ob vires in gignendo, formando, vivendo praecipuas. Haec vero effecta, licet a calore illo diviniore non impedito sint inseparabilia, tamen illius non sunt propria, cum reliquae ignis & aliorum omnium elementorum qualitates, in ea cooperentur, ut mox dicam, sed tamen igneus ille vigor, cuius caelestis origo est, primas partes in hac formatione sustinet totus ubique actuosus.”
- 18.
See the chapters on innate heat (Chap. 15 below) and ancient theories of generation (Part I).
- 19.
Sylvius, op. cit. p. 114.
- 20.
Ibid. p. 118, 121.
- 21.
It is possible to speak of “higher” and “lower” elements in an Aristotelian sense, as well as in the sense discussed by Dr. Walter Pagel and Marianne Winder (note 70). For example, in Book IV of De caelo, Aristotle ‘rates’ the elements according to their degree of lightness or heaviness, fire and earth being absolutely light and heavy respectively, air and water relatively so. Earth’s natural place is lowest, then come, in order, water, air and fire, forming concentric circles. And Aristotle adds, “We hold further that that which surrounds is on the side of form, that which is surrounded is on the side of matter (IV iv 312a 12–15). In other words, the elements which are physically ‘lower’ or ‘higher’ in the Aristotelian universe, are also ‘lower’ or ‘higher’ along a scale from pure matter to pure form. Sylvius and Contarini develop this assertion in various ways. Though I have identified transmutation according to rare and dense with the Stoics, and transmutation according to sensible qualities with Aristotle, it is clear that Aristotle’s own position is ambiguous. See also Meteorologica, I iii 341a 5–9: “whenever a particle of air grows heavy [ατμίς] the warmth in it is squeezed out into the upper region and it sinks, and other particles in turn are carried up together with the fiery exhalation.”
- 22.
Sylvius, op. cit. 125–6, 137–9.
- 23.
Ibid. 139–40, 142: “Humectare autem multo magis quam hybernus, hinc deprehendas, quod germinationi & animalium generationi est aptissimus: quae duo sine larga humiditate non fiant, & largiore quam seminis calor nativus, aut Solis possit depasci. Si enim totam depasceretur calor alteruter, neque generatio fieret, neque per nutritionem auctio. Aer igitur omnium penitissime & citissime & potentiss[i]me humectat calido adiutus, & tenuitate, levitate raritate quibus qualitates contrariae, aquam penitus & potentibus humectare prohibent.”
- 24.
Ibid. pp. 143–5, 144: “Haecque cum terra materiae plurimum corpori tribuit, cuius continentia fere sunt aquea simul & terrea, atque etiam contenta praeter impetum facientia, seu spiritus quae aerea magis & ignea sunt: ut igitur terra ex aqua subacta fit lutum, habile ad formam quamvis suscipiendam, sic nostrae generationis primordia semen viri & mulieris, & sanguis maternus, ambo ex quatuor elementis composita: sed sanguis aqueus & terreus magis, semen vero, quamvis initio aereum magis, ac igneum est, dissipata non multo post horum elementorum magna vi & substantia, quae ex illo fiunt partes, aqueae & terreae, evadunt.”
- 25.
Ibid. pp. 147–9, 151–2.
- 26.
The title and the dedication by Martinus Stopius, dean of Medicine at the University of Vienna, suggest that it was based on Montanus’s lectures. a ii v – iii r. “Etenim humani corporis elementa, temperamenta, humores, spiritus, facultates, cuiusque, actiones, naturae, functiones, adeoque omnium partium constructionem (quam anatome docet) ad unguem nescient, quomodo (cedo) incognitis naturalibus, eaqu[a]e praeter naturam obtingunt, afficiuntque, explorata habebunt?”
- 27.
Ibid. 1 v – 4 r.
- 28.
Ibid. 11 r – v.
- 29.
Op. cit. fol. 3v.
- 30.
Ibid. title page and 1 r (Dedication).
- 31.
Especially I, chs. ii, iii; and IV. In his work as a whole, Aristotle gives two alternate explanations for the activity of the elements, one based on their natural motions (up and down) and the other on their qualitative alterations. It is the former explanation which Contarini seems to take up (cf. e.g. Meteorologica Bk. I iii 341a 5–9) and which we have also seen in Sylvius’ commentary.
- 32.
Contarini op. cit., Bk. I, fol. 3v – 4r, 5r–9r. He devotes several pages to an analysis of the argument in the Timaeus, because, he says, the original is unclear.
- 33.
Ibid. 11r–11v. “Haec elementa inferioremque mundum sese habere veluti materiam, corpora vero coelestia ac superiores mentes esse causam efficientem, quae scilicet imprimant motum suo lumine, & tepore illo, qui assecla est luminis, diverso quodam a calore elementari & igneo, quem jure appellare possumus teporem aethereum. Hunc Platonici & antiquiores philosophi putaverunt esse corpus quoddam aethereum tenuissimum omnia penetrans, quod etiam magnum naturae seminarium nonnulli eorum vocare consueuerunt apud Aristotelem, quoniam corpus nullum quamvis tenuissimum, quin etiam mathematicum aliud corpus penetrare potest, utique nullum tale est corpus permeans inferiora haec elementa, sed coeleste corpus aethereum est, ab elementis separatum, cuius naturalis motus est circularis: ab hoc tamen corpore in elementa refluit lumen motus, & hic quem diximus tepor aethereus, non corpus sed aetherea qualitas, quae omnia penetrat & permeat elementa. huius teporis meminit in libris de generatione animalium, quem dicit ibidem non esse calorem ignis, sed proportionatum elemento stellarum. Cum ergo elementa sint materia quae formatur a corporibus coelestibus eorumque mentibus, nulli est ambigendum quin multa fiant in elementis quorum causam referre non possumus in naturas formasve elementorum proprias: sed referatur omnis eorum causa necesse est in coelestia corpora, quorum vim & actionem elementa recipiunt.”
- 34.
Walter Pagel and Marianne Winder, “The higher elements and prime matter in Renaissance Naturalism and in Paracelsus.” Ambix, 1974, 21, 93–127 esp. 102–3, 123; – “Die Konjunktion der himmlischen und irdischen Elemente in der Renaissancephilosophie und im echten Paracelsus” in Paracelsus Werk und Wirkung, Festgabe für Kurt Goldammer zum 60. Geburtstag, Wien, 1975, 187–204. Paracelsus, however, in at least one work (Philosophia de generatione et fructibus elementorum, I iv) uses higher elements to equal fire and air, lower to mean water and earth, in much the same sense as Sylvius. (pp. 193, 200).
- 35.
Contarini op. cit. fol. 11v, 13v-14v.
- 36.
Ibid. Bk II 23r-27r: “Ideoque quemadmodum universa haec elementorum sphaera se habet veluti quaedam materiae massa & moles, quam corpus coeleste effingit & format: ita caetera tria elementa, si igni comparentur, habent se tanquam materia: ignis vero forma eorum est & figulus, qui ex illis mixta omnia efficiat” (23v-24r).
- 37.
Ibid. 28r. “corpus quoddam calidum erit, praecipueque humidum: igne densius, sed longe rarius aqua & etiam vapore aqueo: quod neque ita efficax est in agendo, sicut ignis, humiditate etenim calor obtunditur..”
- 38.
Ibid. 30r-31v.
- 39.
Ibid. 38v. “Et quemadmodum animalis corpus ubique fovetur spiritu, si haec terra plurimum intra se continet aetherei vaporis, & igneae exhalationis, quibus immixta generare & nutrimentum praestare omnibus potest.”
- 40.
Ibid. iii, 43v-46v; 48v-49v.
- 41.
Ibid. 60v.: “Non omnino dissimilem esse generationem corporum mixtorum a generatione animalium plantarumque, quamvis in plurimis dissideant. Nam sicut in generatione animalium est quaedam certa materia in qua inducitur anima (quae primo inexistit) participaturque a calido naturali, sibique proprio, ac per eum membra format: ita in generatione mixti corporis est forma quae inducitur in sua materia, & primo inest calido naturali[s]. Item quemadmodum in generatione animalis praeter calidum in quo est anima, existit etiam semen in quo est vis generandi animal a parente deducta: Ita in generatione mixtorum omnium est qualitas coelestis, in qua veluti in quodam magno seminario est vis generativa mixtorum omnium deducta a corpore coelesti & a mentibus illis coelorum motricibus ac vi veluti quadam arte, a suprema illa arte derivata, & dispensantur elementa in mixtorum generatione & forma mixti inducitur.” I am grateful to D.P. Walker for corrections to my translation.
- 42.
Ibid. 61r-v.
- 43.
Ibid. 54r.
- 44.
D.A.R.C. [p.7]
- 45.
Ibid. Bk I [p.5], II, p. 143; De Elementis p. 69.
- 46.
Claude Bernard, Introduction a l’Étude de la Médecine Experimentale, Paris, 1865, is a much later example, but in his division of medicine into physiology, pathology and therapeutics, his acceptance of a hierarchy of causes, and his insistence that reason,not empiricism, is the validating principle in science, he resembles Fernel.
- 47.
D.A.R.C. I [55, 57], 58–9 (summary); II, 150.
- 48.
Ibid. [p. 56]: “PH: Inexplicabilis est, mea quidem sententia, temperamenti modus. EU: Id in conformatione longe magis dicas: nam hoc aut illud temperamento esse calido satis intelligitur, eo quod calidum & igneum elementum caeteris elementis in permistione praepolleat. Itemque tactu frigidum si senties, frigidum elementum dominari: sed quanam ratione factum sit, ut haec aut illa fuerit huius aut illius rei figura, id vero est, quod nec dicere nec mente consequi possis. Plurima enim cernimus quae cum sint eiusdem temperamenti, dissimiles tamen figuras acceperunt rursumque aliis consimiles esse figuras, quorum sit dissimilimum inter se temperamentum: quod ex medicorum sententiis plenius postea & uberius probabitur.”
- 49.
Ibid. p. 43. “Partium quae in composito sunt singularum formas, esse veluti quasdam praeparationes inducendae totius formae, & eas esse multiplices.”
- 50.
Ibid. p. 45. “..quo idipsum unum sit, & quo vitam agat.”
- 51.
Ibid. II 157, 160, 162, 163, 167–9 (Galen); 159, 169 (Hippocrates); 153, 161–2 (Plato); 160–2 (Aristotle).
- 52.
Ibid. Bk ii, Praefatio, 143–4; 150, 153, 160–1.
- 53.
Medicina, De Elementis iii-v (pp. 74–76).
- 54.
Ibid. 78–9; D.A.R.C. p. 46.
- 55.
De Elementis ch. vii, p. 80: “Hae [substances and qualities] quidem nequaquam dissipatae aut extinctae oblitescunt, sed repressa…referuntur.”
- 56.
Ibid. ch. viii, pp. 81–82.
- 57.
Ibid. Bk IV, De spiritibus et innato calido, develops this argument more fully. See below, Chap. 15.
- 58.
Meteorologica IV i and iv, v, viii; ch. x, and xii 390b: “Now heat and cold and the motions they set up as the bodies are solidified by the heat and cold are sufficient to form all such parts as are the homogeneous bodies. For they are all of them differentiated by the various qualities enumerated above, .. all of which are derived from the hot and the cold, and the mixture of their motions.” Also cf. De caelo, II, ii and iii.
- 59.
Galeni de Temperamentis Lyons, 1550, I pp. 23–4. “ex calidi, frigidi, sicci, & humidi temperatura conflari corpora dicunt, de iis, quae summo gradu sic se habent, ipsis scilicet elementis, aere, igni, aqua, terra intelligendum aiunt.”
- 60.
Galen, de naturalium facultatum substantia. In addition to Kühn, IV 757–766 I have used two Renaissance editions: Galeni de Naturalibus Facultatibus..Additusque est de naturalium facultatum substantia liber, … Lyons, 1550; and Galeni … Libri Tres. Primus, de facultatum naturalium substantia [and other works] Paris 1528. The work was evidently relatively well known to Renaissance readers; apart from its appearance in the collected works, the Bibliothèque Nationale’s catalogue Galien lists Paris editions of 1528 and 1547, Lyons 1550, 1552 and 1560 and Toulouse 1554, by three different translators. “Quod quidem omnia, quae hoc terrarum orbe corpora continentur ex quatuor elementis totis per tota contemperatis, non ut Empedocles putabat in minutissimas particulas redactis, constant” (1528 edition, used throughout for quotations).
- 61.
Ibid. (1528) 3r: “Probabilius..mihi videtur, temperamenta pro qualitatum ratione constitui”.
- 62.
De temperamentis, I 43–5, 45–6, 47, 48–52, 58–60.
- 63.
Ibid. (Sylvius) pp. 10–11; (Galen) 53–57. “Quippe animal, ac stirpem quamlibet, tum optime se habere diximus, cum optime suam functionem obeunt”.
- 64.
Ibid. 64–5; 68–9; 73; 97–100 especially.
- 65.
E.g. Ars medica, de sanitate tuenda, de naturalium facultatum substantia, de naturalibus facultatibus, de usu partium – all of which are cited by one or another of the four commentators.
- 66.
De naturalium facultatum substantia (1528) 2r and v, 3r
- 67.
De temperamentis, especially I 30–1, 60–3, 70–3; ii, 97–118, 120–6.
- 68.
De inequali intemperie.. pp. 175–6.
- 69.
De temperamentis I 37–43; II 78–86.
- 70.
Ibid. iii p. 134, 141: “quatuor nimirum dicentes totius corporis proprias facultates esse, unam idoneorum tractricem, alteram eorum omnium retentricem, tertiam alteratricem, & quartam quae alieni sit segregatrix, easdemque facultates effectus esse totius in quovis corpore substantiae: quam etiam constare ex calido, frigido, humido & sicco inter se mixtis, dicimus.”
- 71.
Ibid. ii p. 86, iii p. 141 (“In temperamento est facultatum essentia, ut in natura diximus”.)
- 72.
Galen on the Natural Faculties, with an English translation by Arthur John Brock, M.D. London, 1928 (Loeb Classical Library) Book I, i; ii 6–7; vi–xi (especially ix) for faculties and sub-faculties; III, especially i, vi, ix for general faculty (e.g. vi 159–60; III viii 173, 175 for attractive and expulsive fibres; xi for retentive ones; iii for uterus as example of retentive and expulsive faculty.
- 73.
Ibid. II ix par. 126–127.
- 74.
Ibid. viii 118; also I iii.
- 75.
Ibid. II viii 121.
- 76.
De facultatum naturalium substantia (1528) 1v-4r
- 77.
De temperamentis Book III, esp. 141–151, 156–160, 162–170.
- 78.
Ibid. In libros temperamentorum commentationes partionesque aliquot utilissimae. [Sylvius] 1549. p. 3–4. “Elementa quatuor ignis, aër, aqua, terra rerum omnium generabilium & corruptibilium principia, per se tota a suis qualitatibus summis confusa, pro mistionis modo & differentia, res alias atque alias constituunt…” nunc tota transmutandae rei substantia, ut fit in nutritione: nunc formatrice in natura virtute, ut in animalibus generandis: quae quidem artifex facultas est, & particulas animi moribus accommodas effingit, ne solis qualitatibus formandarum partium causam tribuamus, cum hae formationis tantum sint instrumenta: formator alius, tum propinquus, ut semen: tum remotior, divinioris cuiusdam originis.”
- 79.
Ibid. p. 4 and p. 8: “quarum omnium magna est latitudo, innumerabilesque sunt differentiae, majoris et minoris ratione.” Galen’s distinction of four grades (qradus) of each quality is found not in de temperamentis but in the pharmacological work De simplicium medicamentorum temperamentis ac facultatibus (Kühn XI 375–892, XII 1–377).
- 80.
Ibid. pp. 6, 8: “Cum autem homo sit animal sapientissimum, & ..perfectissimum: ut formam omnium nobilissimam rationalem animam: sic corpus estsortitus omnium optime constitutum, idemque sanissimum, quod est similaribus cunctis partibus temperatissimum, in calidi, frigidi, humidi, sicci symmetria..”
- 81.
Ibid. pp. 10–22, “Variae Temperamentum & intemperamentum divisiones.” Here he allows four grades of each of the eight varieties of unequal temperament.
- 82.
Montanus, op. cit. (Libri Primi de Temperamentis Methodus) 5v-6r. “Temperaturam aequalem, in qua nulla penitus qualitas excedit”.
- 83.
Ibid. (Libri Secundi de Temperamentis Methodus) 7r v: “Et primo nos docet inaequalia cognoscere, deinde aequalia, ac nullum signum efficacius ponit, quam quod a singulorum actionibus sumitur. Secundo a structura.”
- 84.
Ibid. (Libri Tertii de Temperamentis Methodus) 8r-v. “hac similitudine omnino docemur, quae calefaciant, & quae refrigerent corpus nostrum, ac eandem esse omnino proportionem inter calorem nostrum, & inter calorem ignis.” (8r)
- 85.
Ibid. 9r-v: “Primum probat inductione, ostendens tam diu operari has facultates, quam diu fuerit calor temperatus, & hoc per singulas actiones patebit discurrenti. Ubi enim calor vel resoluitur, vel extinguitur, vel augetur, vel corrumpitur ob multas morbificas causas: ita etiam minuntur, auferuntur, corrumpuntur operationes.”
- 86.
(Ed. cit. p. 121) It is possible that in speaking of ‘moderate heat’ Montanus is thinking not of eucrasia but of a moderate degree of innate heat. However, his argument is very close to the Galenic one, and here eucrasia is clearly meant.
- 87.
Montanus, op. cit. Methodus de facultatibus naturalibus, 10v.
- 88.
Contarini, op. cit. 49r. “Nam qualitates primae sunt veluti elementa quaedam complexionis, ex illis etenim conflatur complexio sicuti mixtum ex elementis.”
- 89.
Ibid. Bk IV 62r, 68r: “Complexio secunda qualitas est conflata ex mixtionibus primarum qualitatum, quia mixtum corpus agit certa actione, & patitur certa passione. Nam cum temperamento primarum qualitatum fiat complexio, nonnullae vero activae sint ut caliditas & frigiditas, duae quae supersunt passivae, humiditas scilicet & siccitas, necesse est ut harum omnium natura reluceat in complexione quae ex ipsis conflatur. Per complexionem ergo mixtum corpus & certa actione agit per cuiusque temperamento, & certa item passione patitur.” This resembles Aristotle’s description of qualitative action in Meteorologica IV 5 382a.
- 90.
Ibid. 70r; 68r-v. “Sic ergo dicimus complexionem temperatam & aequam quae operationi cuiusque speciei conveniat” (68v).
- 91.
See also above, note 79. Gradus never seems to be used to describe the intensity of wet and dry, only of hot and cold. In the sense that hot and cold gradus cancel one another out, it can possibly be best imagined as “positive” and “negative” degrees. Thus a Galenic “thermometer” might look something like this:
For examples of use of the term by late medieval and early Renaissance natural philosophers (many of them medically trained) in physical speculation, cf. Marshall Clagett, Giovanni Marliani and Late Medieval Physics, New York, 1941, especially Chapter II, pp. 34–35 and note 13 for Galenic origins of gradus. For an early thirteenth century medical account of degrees, in the context of a commentary on the Articella, see Michael McVaugh, “An early discussion of medicinal degrees at Montpellier by Henry of Winchester”, Bull. Hist. Med., 1975, 49: 57–71.
- 92.
Contarini 70v–71v; “non ita tamen ut ponamus seminarium hoc esse corpus aethereum omnia permanans, sed accidens qualitatemque a corpore coelesti defluentem, omniaque penetrantem.”
- 93.
Ibid. (“Item diximus praeter vim calefactionis quae est in calore, inesse etiam in calore vim cogendi homogenea..”) What the celestial power adds, according to Contarini, is not so much a greater power of acting but a greater power of resisting the action of cold, even when the latter is present in a much higher degree. So the power of action of a quality is assumed to be proportional to its gradus, but not necessarily its power of resisting. The language which Contarini uses is that of natural-philosophical speculation on the nature of qualitative action. For example, the notion of a body’s resistance to qualitative change was invoked by natural philosophers such as Marsilius of Inghen and Albert of Saxony to explain the phenomenon of reaction: i.e. the cooling of a hot body by the cold one which it is at the same time heating. (Clagett, op. cit., esp. p. 46, note 41; he also notes that this ‘Parisian’ theory had considerable influence in Italy).
- 94.
Contarini, 71v-72r; Clagett op. cit., especially ch. ii (on reaction) and iii (reduction).
- 95.
Ibid. 72v-73r. “Alia etiam causa adduci potest, si vellemus ascendere supra qualitates primas & complexionem, ad potentias videlicet naturales & proprias…hae etiam naturales potentiae vim habent maximam etiam agendi, eaque inferiores qualitates agere possunt. Quid enim mirum est si inferioris virtus contineatur in superiori & excellentioribus. Dicemus ergo quod mixta illa per naturales potentias seu proprietates agunt, cum calorem seu frigorem multaque alia praeter haec de quibus medici tractant.” Contarini here appears to agree with Galen that temperamental heat is all that doctors have to concern themselves with.
- 96.
Ibid. 73r.
- 97.
Physiologia De Temperamentis Lib. III ch. i p. 84: “quae quodammodo propago & soboles permistionis est.”
- 98.
Ibid. “Quae igitur intra mediocritatis huius limites inciderit principum qualitatum concursio, ut mistionem sic & continuo temperamentum progignit.”
- 99.
Ibid. “Est autem temperamentum, non ipsa mistio, sed mistionis ratio. Poterit & id earum quae in mistis elementis sunt principum qualitatum harmonia & concentus definiri. Ut in cantu & fidibus soni longis locorum intervallis distracti, aut conjuncti quidem, sed dispares & non pro rata portione distincti, concentum haudquaquam efficiunt, nisi primi cum ultimis temperati, & medii utrisque respondentes aequabiliter dulci sono aures compleant: ita neque diuulsorum elementorum qualitates, neque coeuntes illae quidem temperamentum efficient, nisi moderata & concordi quadam mediocritate sese mutuo complectantur. Non igitur ipsa rerum primordia per se & absolute perpensa temperamentum sunt: neque illorum mistio, sed mistorum comparatio.. Non desunt qui temperamentum a mistione hoc discrimine seiungunt, quod haec maxime elementorum propria sit, illud vero qualitatum.”
- 100.
Ibid. ch. ii p. 86; cf. Clagett, op. cit., pp. 43, 47, 71–2, 76 for appeal to experiment in controversies concerning reaction and reduction.
- 101.
Ibid., ch. v, p. 90. “Quicquid enim animo cernimus, id omne originem traxit a sensibus.”
- 102.
Ibid. ch. iii p. 88: “Temperatissimum quod est, individuum & omnis expers latitudinis quasi punctum intelligitur: caetera quae ab hoc recesserunt, longe lateque fusa sunt: neque enim quae calida dicimus, omnia pari a mediocritate intervallo distant, neque aut frigida, aut humida, aut sicca, uno eodemque omnia sunt ordine. In compositis porro evincentium qualitatum aut par est recessus, aut alias alia antecellit..Unde intelligitur octo cum sint impara temperamenta, uniuscuiusque tamen ex maiore minoreque recessu innumerabilia fieri discrimina, ex quorum proprietatibus tum similium partium, tum infinitae corporum naturae & proprietates consurgunt atque constant.” If we made a diagram from this description, it might look something like this:
Equal temperament is of course the point at the junction of the coordinates; T1 represents a simple temperament, cold in the first degree (say); T2 a composite temperament, hot and moist. The number of possible co-ordinates is clearly unlimited.
- 103.
Ibid. p. 91. In De abditis rerum causis (I iii 24–6) Fernel adds to this the notion that the simple parts differ in essentia (and not only in quality) because they differ in function. Temperament thus becomes a sign of these essential differences; though elsewhere in the same work (e.g. pp. 36, 160) it is described as purely qualitative, and distinguished from the form of the simple parts: which, like function, is supra-elemental and derives ultimately from the soul. In fact, the distinction between structure and form is a difficult one.
- 104.
Ibid. pp. 89, 95–101 (chapters iv, viii–xi).
- 105.
Ibid. De Animae Facultatibus Lib V., ch. i, p. 122 “At quoniam non in solius corporis, sed in hominis qui ex corpore & animo constat, meditatione versamur.”
- 106.
For a more detailed discussion of particular problems concerning the soul and generation, see below, ch. 4.
- 107.
Ibid. ch. i, ii; 122–5; D.A.R.C. ch iv, p. 45 for definition of total form; Physiologia V ch i for definition of soul.
- 108.
De abditis rerum causis II i pp. 145, 147, 150. In Book I he gives two further reasons why form cannot arise from temperament: i) temperament is qualitative, form substantive: no substance can arise from a quality (p. 36) ii) the simple and opposing motions of the Aristotelian elements, which are in effect their form, are insufficient to explain the total form of a living thing (pp. 41–2).
- 109.
Physiologia V iv p. 130 for range of ‘ensouled’ substances; v p. 131 for activity on basis of similitudo: “similitudo quippe amicitiam, amicitia desiderium seu appetitum, appetitus attractionem movet.”
- 110.
Ibid. V i 122, ii 123–5; De abditis rerum causis II chs ii, iii, iv.
- 111.
Physiologia III (De temperamentis) vii pp. 93–5; also in Book IV, “On spirit and innate heat” (and see below, ch. 3). For a definition of spiritus, De abditis rerum causis II iv 168.
- 112.
Physiologia III vii p. 95: “id proprium perfectumque temperamentum est, quod ex prima elementorum confusione & ex fervido calentique spiritu integratur.”
- 113.
cf. e.g. De locis affectis IV 5, “De uteri affectibus”.
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Deer Richardson, L., Goldberg, B. (2018). Elements and Temperaments. In: Academic Theories of Generation in the Renaissance. History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences, vol 22. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69336-1_14
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