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Jesuit scientific writing during the second half of the
seventeenth century was dominated by the work of Althanasius
Kircher and his followers. Kircher wrote on an astonishingly
wide range of scientific subjects, including medicine,
acoustics, geology, astronomy and mathematics. Although
Kircher's philosophy--a blend of science and superstition
combining empirical observation with magical and religious
elements--seems strange to modern eyes, it was seriously
noted and discussed by many eminent scientists of the time,
including Descartes, Boyle and Leibniz. Although not in
the mainstream of seventeenth-century scientific thought,
the works of Kircher and his Jesuit contemporaries typify
the complexity and diversity of scientific writing of the
period.
Athanasius Kircher, 1602-1680
Iter exstaticum coeleste, quo mundi opificium, id
est, coelestis expansi, siderumque tam errantium, quám
fixorum natura, vires, proprietates, singulorumque composito
et structura, ab infimo telluris globo, usque ad ultima
mundi confinia, per ficti raptus integumentum explorata,
novâ hypothesi exponitur ad veritatem, interlocutoribus
Cosmiele et Theodidacto... (Würzburg, 1660)
In this work Kircher uses the narrative device of a fantastic
voyage through space to discuss his theories of the solar
system. Accompanied by the "music of the spheres," the
two protagonists (Theodidactus and Cosmiel) travel through
the void to other worlds, and converse with the intelligent
life forms they find there.
Athanasii Kircheri è Soc. Jesu Scrutinum physico-medicum
contagiosae luis, quae dicitur pestis... (Leipzig, 1659)
An investigation into the nature of bubonic plague, prompted
by an outbreak of the disease in Naples during 1656. After
examining the blood and urine of plague victims under a
primitive microscope, Kircher hazarded a guess that a living
organism (contagium animatum) might play a role in plague
infection, but he stopped short of propounding an actual
germ theory of disease.
Juan Eusebio Nieremberg, 1595-1658
Oculta filosofia de la sympatia, y antipatia de las
cosas; artificio de la naturaleza, y noticia natural
del mundo;
y segunda parte de la Curiosa filosofia, contiene historias
notables, auerguanse muchos secretos, y problemas de la
naturaleza... (Barcelona, 1645)
The second part of the author's Curiosa filosofia; part
one was published in 1630. Nieremberg's writings on "occult
philosophy" and aspects of natural magic such as the
sympathy and antipathy of objects were a major influence
on the thought of Athanasius Kircher.
Gaspar Schott, 1608-1666
Physica curiosa, sive Mirabilia naturae et artis
libris XII. comprehensa... (Würzburg, 1667)
Gaspar Schott taught moral theology, mathematics and natural
philosophy at Palermo, the Roman College, and Wurzburg.
Schott was Kircher's assistant at the Roman College, and
this work on monsters and deformities reflects some of
Kircher's more bizarre ideas about zoology.
Francesco Lana Terzi, 1631-1687
La nave volante... (Italy? 1784?)
A reprint of chapter 6 ("Fabricare una nave, che
camini sostenata sopra l'aria a remi, & a veli")
from the author's Prodromo overo Saggio di alcune inventione
nuove . . . (Brescia, 1670). Although the concept of Lana
Terzi's "ship carried on air" is based on a fundamental
error in physics and is completely impractical, it is nevertheless
an interesting early attempt to design a flying machine.
Ignace Gaston Pardies, 1636-1673
La statique ou La science des forces mouvantes. (Paris:
Chez Sebast. Mabre-Cramoisy, 1674)
Home Page || Introduction:
Jesuits and the Sciences
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