“Fiber Body” in the Era of Iatromechanism, c. 1700 to 1740s

Abstract

This chapter delivers a comprehensive account of fiber medicine during the iatromechanists’ phase. With the rise of solidism, fibers were seen to perform a pivotal function in the animal economy. Referring to a wide range of medical fields, this chapter elucidates the ways in which fiber served as an indispensable concept for iatromechanists in establishing their medical theories. Anatomists saw the body as wholly interwoven of fiber-threads. In physiology and pathology, fiber, with its innate property of elasticity, played an indispensable role in understanding how health was maintained or disturbed. In the life sciences, fiber was deemed the appropriate concept to explain animal growth within the preformationist framework. The concept of fiber was employed to determine individual constitutions and differences in gender and rank.