East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine (EASTM - Universität Tübingen)
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The Jesuits in China and the Circulation of Western Books in the Sciences (17th-18th Centuries): The Medical and Pharmaceutical Sections in the SJ Libraries of Peking
Get PDFIn total, 281 medical and pharmaceutical books, and some journals (including ‘general’ ones, such as the Gazeta de Lisboa) are preserved in the so-called Beitang collection (Peking). These, in the main, originate from the pre-1773 Jesuit collections in Peking and elsewhere. They constitute, together with other written sources, a primary source reflecting the medical aspect of the Jesuit presence and activities in seventeenth till eighteenth century China. It is possible to identify a core of 68 items brought to Peking in 1623. This is followed by a decline (in the number of acquisitions, and probably interest in upgrading the collection), until in 1685 Ferdinand Verbiest tried to provide fresh impulse to book acquisition, without significant results. Yet, medical books continued to arrive until the very end of the Jesuit presence in Peking, apparently more often at the (French) Beitang than the Portuguese college (Nantang), with its strong focus on mathematics, linked to the activities in the Astronomical Bureau of its residents. I try to tease out details of the identity of the readers and their interests, which turn out to be multi-faceted and heterogeneous, due to the relatively long (200 year) period of acquisition. These reflect factors such as the evolution in European medicine and pharmacology, the multi-national composition of the staff, their different professional backgrounds and level of instruction, and the various types of diseases they were confronted with
Introduction and Development of the Screw in Seventeenth- Century China: Theoretical Explanations and Practical Applications by Ferdinand Verbiest
Get PDFThis research note gives a short account of the introduction of the screw into China. It focuses on the transmission of the technological knowledge and practical application of screws by the Jesuits of the China mission in the seventeenth century. The main source used is Terrenz (Johann Schreck) and Wang Zheng’s Yuanxi qiqi tushuo (Record of the Best Illustrations and Descriptions of Extraordinary Devices of the Far West), which in chapter two contains a description in twenty-one sections of the screw as the sixth of the six single machines. This source is significant as Ferdinand Verbiest, who focussed on the practical applications of the screw, copied some parts of the text in his Lingtai yixiang zhi (Treatise on Astronomical Instruments at the Imperial Observatory; 1674) and some of the illustrations in his Yixiang tu (lllustrations of Astronomical Instruments). The research note starts with an analysis of Verbiest’s text on the use of screws, which is linked to illustration 87 (Fig.4) in the Yixiang tu. Other applications of mechanical techniques can be seen in his illustrations 62, 66 (see Fig. 2, 2a, 2b), 67 (Fig. 3) and 88 (Fig. 5), but without any explanations. They were presumably introduced by Verbiest as additional reference material for those interested in the practical use of screws. This is followed by an analyis of Verbiest’s explanations of the use and particular functions of screws as provided in the specific texts dedicated to each of his six new instruments. Finally, the origin of the Yixiang tu prints will be elucidated and the original pictures from the Western sources reproduced
