Standstill or Death
-
Bernd Roling
Abstract
How the hibernation of animals could be explained physically? The question troubled natural scientists already in the Early Modern period, as this study will demonstrate. After a chain of examples, taken from 16th century zoological literature, the paper presents different Early Modern explanations of animal hibernation. How the power of the vis nutritiva could be satisfied and neutralized simultaneously? A first solution was offered by the Italian medicine professor Fortunio Liceti in the early 17th century, who made especially use of Albertus Magnus. A second more complex model was developed by the Danish scholar Ole Borch a few years later. Both models agreed in the idea that the Aristotelian key qualities in the process of digestion, heat and cold, had to neutralize themselves reciprocally. As a third case the almost encyclopedical survey of theories about hibernation will be summarized, given by the German physician Karl von Bergen in 1752.
Abstract
How the hibernation of animals could be explained physically? The question troubled natural scientists already in the Early Modern period, as this study will demonstrate. After a chain of examples, taken from 16th century zoological literature, the paper presents different Early Modern explanations of animal hibernation. How the power of the vis nutritiva could be satisfied and neutralized simultaneously? A first solution was offered by the Italian medicine professor Fortunio Liceti in the early 17th century, who made especially use of Albertus Magnus. A second more complex model was developed by the Danish scholar Ole Borch a few years later. Both models agreed in the idea that the Aristotelian key qualities in the process of digestion, heat and cold, had to neutralize themselves reciprocally. As a third case the almost encyclopedical survey of theories about hibernation will be summarized, given by the German physician Karl von Bergen in 1752.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- Abbreviations VII
- Introduction IX
-
Aristotle
- ‘Most Natural Among the Functions of Living Things’ 1
- Method and Nutritive Soul in Aristotle’s De Anima II,4 21
- Nutrition and Hylomorphism in Aristotle 43
- The Female Contribution to Generation and Nutritive Soul in Aristotle’s Embryology 63
- Why do not Animals Grow on Without End? 85
- Looking for the Formative Power in Aristotle’s Nutritive Soul 101
- Aristotle and his Medical Precursors on Digestion and Nutrition 127
- Aristotle on the Role of Heat in Plant Life 153
-
Aristotelianism
- Reading and Sleep in Pseudo-Aristotle, Problemata XVIII,7 173
- Dividing an Apple 197
- Is Nutrition a Sufficient Condition for Life? 221
- Digestive Problems 259
- Magnetism and Nutrition 285
- From Food to Elements and Humors 319
- Standstill or Death 339
- Antonio Ponce de Santacruz on Nutrition and the Question of Emergence 355
- Index locorum 379
- Index rerum 405
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- Abbreviations VII
- Introduction IX
-
Aristotle
- ‘Most Natural Among the Functions of Living Things’ 1
- Method and Nutritive Soul in Aristotle’s De Anima II,4 21
- Nutrition and Hylomorphism in Aristotle 43
- The Female Contribution to Generation and Nutritive Soul in Aristotle’s Embryology 63
- Why do not Animals Grow on Without End? 85
- Looking for the Formative Power in Aristotle’s Nutritive Soul 101
- Aristotle and his Medical Precursors on Digestion and Nutrition 127
- Aristotle on the Role of Heat in Plant Life 153
-
Aristotelianism
- Reading and Sleep in Pseudo-Aristotle, Problemata XVIII,7 173
- Dividing an Apple 197
- Is Nutrition a Sufficient Condition for Life? 221
- Digestive Problems 259
- Magnetism and Nutrition 285
- From Food to Elements and Humors 319
- Standstill or Death 339
- Antonio Ponce de Santacruz on Nutrition and the Question of Emergence 355
- Index locorum 379
- Index rerum 405
