Chapter XXXIX: Appendix: I

ACCOUNTS OF EARLY WRITERS, NAVIGATORS AND OTHERS
ALLUDED TO BY GILBERT AND NOT ALREADY DISPOSED
OF THROUGHOUT THIS “BIBLIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY”

=Abano=, Pietro di--Petrus Aponus, Apponensis or Apianus--called “the Reconciler” (1250–1316), was Professor of Medicine at Padua and wrote several works of importance on different subjects. The best known is “Conciliator differentiarum philosophorum ac Medicorum,” which is devoted to the reconciliation of the various medical and philosophical schools, and in which reference is made to the loadstone, as is also the case in his “Tractatus de Venenis,” published during 1490.

REFERENCES.--Larousse (Pierre), “Dict. Universel,” Vol. I. p.
11; “Biographie Générale,” Vol. I. pp. 29–31; G. A. Pritzel,
“Thesaurus Literaturæ Botanicæ,” Lipsiæ, 1851, p. 226; N. F. J.
Eloy, “Dict. hist. de la médecine,” Mons, 1778, Art. _Apono_;
Ludovico Hain, “Repertorium Bibliographicorum,” Art. _Abano_;
Mazzuchelli (Frederigo), “Raccolta d’Opuscoli ...” Venetia,
1741; Pellechet (Marie), “Catalogue général des incunables,”
1897, pp. 1–4; Gilbert, _De Magnete_, Book I. chap. i.

=Agricola=, Georgius--Bauer--Landmann--(1494–1555), is called by Dr. Thomas Thomson one of the most extraordinary men as well as one of the greatest promoters of chemistry that have ever existed, and he pronounces Agricola’s “De Re Metallica,” which was published in 1546, 1556, 1558, 1561, as, beyond comparison, the most valuable chemical work produced in the sixteenth century. Agricola is also the author of “De Natura eorum,” of “De Natura fossilium” and of “De veteribus et novis metallis,” all published at Basle in 1657.

Gilbert mentions Agricola in his _De Magnete_ (Book I. chaps, i. ii. vii. viii.; Book II. chap. xxxviii.) and, in connection with him, alludes more particularly to Gilgil, the Mauretanian, and also to Christoph--Entzelt--Encelius, author of a book bearing the same name as Agricola’s chief work, “De Re Metallica,” published at Frankfort, 1551. Attention may as well be called here to additional authors, whose works, in the same line, are of great variety and but little known: (1) Cæsalpinus (Andreas) (1519–1603), “De Metallicis,” Romæ, 1596; (2) Morieni (Romani), who, in his “De Re Metallica,” Parisiis, 1559, treats (as does also John Joachim Beccher, 1635–1682: “Hutton’s Abridgments” Vol. I. p. 620) of the transmutation of metals and of the occult, much in same manner as Robertus Vallensis in his “De veritate et antiquitate artis chemicæ ...” 1593, 1612; (3) Bernardo Pèrez de Vargas, who, in his “De Re Metallica, en el qual se tratan de muchos diversos secretos ...” Madrid, 1569, tells how to find different kinds of minerals and metals and how to treat them to the best advantage in various industries; (4) J. Charles Faniani, “De Arte Metallicæ” 1576.

Cuvier says of Agricola: “He was the first mineralogist who appeared after the _renaissance_ of the sciences in Europe: he was to mineralogy what Conrad Gesner was to zoology.”

REFERENCES.--“Biog. Générale,” Vol. I. pp. 410–411; Larousse
(Pierre), “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. I. p. 141; “Dict. hist. de la
médecine” (N. F. J. Eloy), Mons, 1778, Vol. I. pp. 50–52.

=Agrippa=, Heinricus Cornelius--ab Netiesheyem, Nettesheim--(1486–1535), German Doctor of Medicine, also a Doctor of Divinity, a soldier--knighted for valour on the battle-field of Ravenna--a diplomatist, an astrologer, etc. He was in turns, ambassador at Paris and London, historiographer to Emperor Charles V, professor at the university of Pavia, town physician in Friburg, private practitioner at Geneva, court physician to Louise of Savoy, chief magistrate of Metz, theological delegate to the schismatic council of Pisa, etc., and for three years was engaged in a military expedition to Catalonia. He is the author of several important works, the full collection of which was published at Lyons in 1550. The one by which he is best known is “De occulta philosophia,” which was translated in French by Levasseur.

REFERENCES.--Morley (Henry), “The Life of H. Corn. Agrippa,”
London, 1856; Bayle (Pierre), “Dict. Hist.”; Jos. Ennemoser,
“History of Magic,” London, 1854, Vol. II. pp. 253–256; G.
Naudé, “Apologie”; Larousse (Pierre), “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. I. pp.
143–144; Bolton (H. C.), “Chr. Hist. of Chem.,” p. 946; Gilbert,
_De Magnete_, Book I. chap. i.

=Albategnius=--Machometes Aractensis, Muhammad Ibn Jabir--Al-Battani--(_d._ A.D. 929), is considered by Lalande one of the twenty greatest known astronomers. His principal work, “De scientia stellarum,” was published in 1537.

REFERENCES.--Delambre (J. B), “Hist. de l’astron. moderne,” pp.
10–62; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Générale,” Vol. I. part. i.
p. 467; Vol. II. p. 71; Gilbert, _De Magnete_, Book VI. chap.
ix.; “Engl. Cycl.” Vol. I. p. 84.

=Alexander Aphrodisæus=--Aphrodisiensis--a celebrated Greek scientist and the oldest commentator on Aristotle, who lived at about the close of the second century after Christ, and whose works were so highly esteemed by the Arabs that they translated most of them (Casiri, “Bibl. Arab. Hisp. Escur.,” Vol. I). The list of all of his publications appears in “Biog. Générale,” Vol. I. pp. 911–914.

REFERENCES.--Fabricius (Johann Albert), “Bibliotheca Græca,”
Vol. V. p. 650; Ritter (Dr. Heinrich), “Geschichte der
Philosophie,” Vol. IV. p. 24; Gilbert, _De Magnete_, Book I.
chap. i. and Book II. chaps. ii. xxv.

=Amatus Lusitanus.= _See_ Lusitanus Amatus.

=Anaxagoras=, born at Clazomenæ, one of the Greek towns of Ionia, in 500 B.C., three years before the death of Pythagoras, was a very eminent philosopher of the Ionic school, wherein he succeeded Anaximenes as a leader, and numbered among his many hearers and pupils Diogenes of Apollonia, Pericles, Euripides, Socrates and Archelaus. A very good analysis of Anaxagoras’ philosophical opinions is to be found in the “Biographical Dictionary of the Society of Useful Knowledge.” Gilbert alludes to him (_De Magnete_, Book II. chap. iii. and Book V. chap. xiii.) as believing that the loadstone was endowed with a sort of life, because it possessed the power of moving and attracting iron, and as declaring in fact that the entire world is endowed with a soul.

Anaxagoras is accused, by Pliny and other early writers, of having predicted the fall of aerolites from the sun, and of regarding all bodies in the universe “as fragments of rocks, which the fiery ether, in the force of its gyratory motion, has torn from the earth and converted into stars” (Humboldt, “Cosmos” 1859–1860, Vol. I. pp. 133–135, note; Vol. II. p. 309; Vol. III. pp. 11–12; Vol. IV. pp. 206–207).

Aristotle also attacks Anaxagoras for not properly etymologizing the word _aether_, from αιθεἲν, to burn, and on this account using it for fire. He shows that _aether_, which signifies to run perpetually, implies that a perpetual motion and perpetuity of subsistence belongs to the heavenly bodies (“Treatises of Aristotle,” by Thos. Taylor, London, 1807, p. 43, note).

According to Anaximenes, named above (born at Miletus about 528 B.C.), the primal principle was Aer, of which all things are formed and into which all things are resolved. He belonged to the branch called the dynamical, whose doctrines as to the heavenly bodies were opposed to those of mechanical philosophers such as Anaxagoras, Empedocles and Anaximander of Miletus (“Engl. Cycl.,” Biography, 1866, Vol. I, p. 201).

REFERENCES.--Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. I. part
i. pp. 401–402, and Vol. II. p. 74; “Plato,” by George Grote,
London, 1865, Vol. I. pp. 49–62; “Essai théorique et pratique
sur la génération des connaissances humaines,” par Guillaume
Tiberghien, Bruxelles, 1844, Vol. I. pp. 181–182; Dr. Heinrich
Ritter, “History of Ancient Philosophy,” London, 1846, Vol. I.
pp. 281–318; Chas. Rollin, “Ancient History,” London, 1845,
Vol. I. p. 376; Paul Tannery, “Pour l’histoire de la Science
Hellène,” Paris, 1887, Chap. XII; Theod. Gomperz, “Greek
Thinkers,” transl. of L. Magnus, London, 1901, Chap. IV. pp.
556–558, 597; Ueberweg, “Hist. of Philosophy,” transl. of Geo.
S. Morris, New York, 1885, Vol. I. pp. 63–67; Alf. Weber, “Hist.
of Phil.,” transl. of Frank Thilly, New York, 1896, pp. 48–53.

=Aquinas=--St. Thomas--also called Doctor Angelicus (born at Aquino in Naples, A.D. 1225)--“the most successful organizer of knowledge the world has known since Aristotle”--was a famous schoolman and is considered by many the greatest of Christian philosophers. He is well worthy the profound respect and high admiration in which he is held always by Gilbert, who alludes to him in Book I. chap. i. and in Book II. chap. iii. of his _De Magnete_. The chief work of St. Thomas Aquinas is the “Summa Theologiæ,” to which he devoted the last nine years of his life and which by many has been called the supreme monument of the thirteenth century. The first part of the “Summa Theologiæ” is said to have been originally published in 1465 and the second part in 1471, the completed work first appearing during the year 1485.[62]

One of his critics remarks that those wishing to thoroughly comprehend the peculiar character of metaphysical thought in the Middle Ages should study Aquinas, in whose writings it is seen with the greatest consistency. He is thus spoken of in Dr. Wm. Turner’s “History of Philosophy,” published by Ginn & Co., 1903: “He had a comprehensiveness of purpose which, in these modern times, seems nothing short of stupendous. It is only when, as we study the history of later scholasticism and the history of the philosophy of modern times, we shall look back to the thirteenth century through the perspective of ages of less successful attempts at philosophical synthesis, that we shall begin to realize the true grandeur of the most commanding figure in the history of mediæval thought.”

Aquinas died at the Cistercian Monastery in 1274, and was canonized forty-nine years later by Pope John XXII.

REFERENCES.--Carle (P. J.), “Hist. de la vie ... de Th. d’Aq.,”
1846; Maffei (Francesco Scipione), “Vita ...” 1842; B. Hauréau,
“De la Phil. Schol.,” Paris, 1850, Vol. II. pp. 104, 213; G.
Tiberghien, “Essai historique ... des con. hum.,” Bruxelles,
1844, Vol. I. pp. 374–378; Dr. Fried. Ueberweg, “Hist. of
Phil.,” transl. of Geo. S. Morris, New York, 1885, Vol. I. pp.
440–452; “Thomæ Aquinatis Opera Theologica,” Venice, 1745–1760,
28 vols. quarto, edited by Bernardo M. de Rossi-Rubeis; “Petri
de Bergamo, Super Omnia Opera D. Thomæ Aquinatis,” Bononiæ,
1473; “Biogr. Gén.,” Vol. XLV. pp. 208–218; “Siger de Brabant
et l’Averroïsme au 13^e siècle,” par Pierre Maudonnet, Friburg,
1899, Chap. IV _passim_; “Albert the Great,” by Dr. Joachim
Sighart, transl. of Rev. Fr. T. A. Dixon, London, 1876, Chap.
VI. p. 63; “The Great Schoolmen of the Middle Ages,” by W. J.
Townsend, London, 1881, pp. 199–241; Alfred Weber, “Hist. of
Phil.,” transl. of Frank Thilly, New York, 1896, pp. 241–246;
Dr. W. Windelband, “Hist. of Phil.,” authorized transl. by
Jas. H. Tufts, New York, 1893, pp. 313–314; Paola Antonia
(Novelli), “De D. Th. Aquin.”; A. Hunaci, “Oratio,” Venice,
1507; likewise Veen (Otto van), Etiro (Partenio), Rodericus de
Arriaga, Frigerio (Paolo) and Thouron (V. C.) in their works
on Aquinas, 1610, 1630, 1648, 1688 and 1737–1740; Henry Hart
Milman, “History of Latin Christianity,” London, 1857, Vol.
VI. pp. 273–278, 281–286; Pellechet (Marie), “Catal. Gén. des
Incunables,” 1897, pp. 210–249; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl.
Gén.,” Vol. II. p. 264; “Le Journal des Savants” for May 1851,
pp. 278, 281–298 _passim_, and also in the issue of December
1905.

=Aristarchus of Samos=, one of the earliest astronomers of the Alexandrian School, who lived in the third century B.C., is referred to in Gilbert’s _De Magnete_, at Chaps. III and IX of book vi. Vitruvius ascribes to him the invention of a concave sundial which he calls _scaphe_ and which is described by Martianus Mineus Capella (cited by Weidler); and Censorinus says that Aristarchus was the author of an extensive work called “Annus Magnus,” covering a period of 2484 years.

REFERENCES.--Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. I. p. 623; Montucla
(J. F.), “Hist. des Math.,” Vol. I. p. 721; Houzeau et
Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. II. p. 77; “Engl. Cycl.,” Vol. I.
p. 314.

=Arnaldus de Villa Nova=--Arnaldus Novicomensis--Arnaud de Villeneuve, dit de Bachuone (1235–1312), who assumed the name of Magrinus when on his way from France to Sicily, was an eminent physician, the master of Raymond Lully, who taught medicine as well as alchemy at Barcelona and whose numerous treatises upon the virtues of plants, etc., are analyzed in M. F. Hœfer’s “Histoire de la Chimie,” Vol. I. p. 385. The first edition of his works appeared at Lyons in 1504.

REFERENCES.----Campegius (Laurentius), “Arnaldi Vita”; “Nouvelle
Biographie Générale” (Hœfer), Vol. III. pp. 279–282; Boulay
(H. de), “Hist. de l’Univ. de Padoue,” Vol. IV; Freind (John),
“Hist. de la Médecine,” Vol. III; N. F. J. Eloy, “Dict. Hist.
de la Médecine,” Mons, 1778, Tome III. p. 131; Astruc (Jean),
“Hist, de la fac. de méd. de Montpellier”; “Journal des Savants”
for June 1896, p. 342, “Testaments d’Amand de Villeneuve et
de Raimond Lulle,” “L’Alchimie et les Alchimistes”; Figuier
(Louis), Paris, 1860, p. 172; Gilbert, _De Magnete_, Book I.
chap. i.

=Barbarus=, Hermolaus--Barbaro Ermoleo--(1454–1495)--(Barbari Hermolai, Aquileiensis Pontificis), whose name alone Gilbert mentions, was a well-known Italian savant, Professor of Philosophy at the Padua University, and the author of many works, of which the most popular are: (1) “Castigationes Plinianæ,” Rome, 1492, wherein he boasts of having made more than five thousand corrections in Pliny’s “Natural History”; (2) “Castigationes Secundæ,” Venice, 1480; (3) “Castigationes in Pomponium Melam,” Antwerp, 1582; (4) “Compendium scientiæ naturalis ex Aristotele,” Venice, 1545.

REFERENCES.--Paul Jove, “Elogia”; Boissardus (Joannes Jacobus),
“Icones ... virorum illustrium”; “Giornale de’ letterati d’
Italia,” Vol. XXXVIII; “Theosaurus Litteraturæ Botanicæ,”
Lipsiæ, 1851, p. 333; “Biogr. Générale,” Vol. IV. pp. 418–419.

=Becanus.= _See_ Goropius.

=Benedictus=--Benedetti--Joannes Baptista (1530–1590), Italian mathematician, who was considered a prodigy at the age of eighteen, and who, five years later, published in Venice a remarkable work on the solution of most of Euclid’s problems. He is also the author of treatises on navigation, astronomy, music, etc., and can justly be placed in the first rank of savants of the sixteenth century.

REFERENCES.--“La Grande Encyclopédie,” Vol. VI. pp. 132–133;
“Biog. Générale,” Vol. V. pp. 340–342; Libri (Guillaume), “Hist.
des Sciences Mathém.,” Vol. III. pp. 121–133; Montucla (J. F.),
“Hist. des Mathém.,” Vol. I. pp. 572, 693, 729; Marie (J. F.),
“Hist. des Sc. Math.,” Vol. II. p. 307; Houzeau et Lancaster,
“Bibliographie Générale,” Vol. II. p. 83; Gilbert, _De Magnete_,
Chap. IX of book iv.

=Brasavolus=, Antonius Musæ (1500–1570), alluded to by Gilbert in