Thoughts and circumstances of Sébastien Basson. Analysis, micro-history, questions

Early Science and Medicine

Volumn 2, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 1-73

  Luthy C H ^a  

^a MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE   (Germany)

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EID: 80053033247     PISSN: 13837427     EISSN: 15733823     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/157338297X00014     Document Type: Review

References (183)

1. The structure of the work (pagination following the first edition throughout the article): Dedication: Nobili [⋯] Adolescenti D.D. Carolo Tonardo, Domino d'Ison, [s.p., i-viii].
2. Introduction: Ad Lectorem, [s.p., ix-xxxviii].
3. Books 1-2: De prima rerum naturalium materia ar de mixta libri duo pp 1-129
4. Books 3-5: De forma libri tres, pp. 130-309.
5. Book 6: Liber de natura et anima mundi, pp. 309-345.
6. Book 7: De motu liber, pp. 346-429.
7. Book 8: De actione et quatuor primis qualitatibus liber, pp. 430-475.
8. Books 9-10: De cœlo libri duo, pp. 476-569.
9. Book 11: Liber de visu, pp. 569-631.
10. Book 12: Meteorologicorum liber, pp. 631-707.
11. Index rerum quae in hoc opere continentur, [s.p., xxviii pp.]. Errata, [s.p., i p.].
12. There editions of the Philosophia naturalis. 1) Geneva- (or Aureliana), Pierre de la Rouière, 1621, octavo, pp. xxxviii + 701 + xxix.
13. Amsterodami, Ludovicus Elzevier, 1649, octavo, pp. xxxiv + 631 + xx.
14. Of the 19 copies of Basson's first edition I have examined, ten indicate Aureliana as the printing place. This is a highly unusual pseudonym for Geneva, and it has fooled bibliographers since the seventeenth century into assuming that the book was printed at Orléans. According to J. Graesse et al., eds.: Orbis Latinus (Großausgabe) (Braunschweig, 1972), "Aureliana civitas" refers to Orléans, "Aurelia" stands mostly for "Orléans" and very rarely for "Geneva," while no occurrence of "Aureliana" for "Geneva" is recorded. The Philosophia naturalis may well be the only such instance as the Genevan printers' usual pseudonyms were Colonia Allobrogum or 5. Gervasium. The Genevan edition of N. Hill's Philosophia Epicurea, Democritiana, Theophrastica (1619) represents a comparable case of a "double edition:" the copies destined to go to the Protestant regions indicate Geneva; the others Colonia Allobrogum. Note that today's distribution of Basson's Geneva and Aureliana copies doesn't correspond to the denominational divisions of the European map: the two Basle copies (Universitätsbibliothek, Kf.III.12 and JH.x.24) indicate Aureliana, whereas two of the Roman copies (Biblioteca Nazionale, 14.11.L.23, and Biblioteca Angelica, SS. 6.58) used to indicate Geneva, though this name has for obvious reasons been scratched out. The first and second editions vary slightly in the numeration of their sections. The second edition tries inconsistently to correct for some of the mistaken numbers of the first edition.
15. W. Charleton, The Darknes of Atheism Dispelled by the Light of Nature (London, 1652), 40-1.
16. T. Lucretius Caro, De Rerum Natura Libri Sex (Brescia, 1473);
17. S. Capece, De principiis rerum libri duo (Naples, 1534);
18. G. Fracastoro, Opera omnia (Venice, 1555);
19. G. Bruno, esp. De triplki minimo et mensura; De monade, numero et figura (both Frankfurt, 1591).
20. Cf. Bruno, De triplici minimo, 10: "Nobis vacuum simpliciter cum atomis non sufficit; certam quippe oportet esse materiam, quâ conglutinentur."
21. S. Clucas, "The Atomism of the Cavendish Circle: A Reappraisal," The Seventeenth Century 9 (1994), 247-273. Clucas rightly suggests (247) that we "view atomism as a series of overlapping and idiomatically constituted conceptual fields determined by the philosophical predilections of its seventeenth-century exponents," and he adds: "Should we, in fact, speak of 'neo-atomism' in the way that we quite comfortably discuss 'neo-stoicism' or 'neo-platonism'?"
22. For Basson and all other neo-atomist physicians, Jean Fernel's De abditis rerum cau-sis libri duo (Venice, 1550)
23. was a key work. On alchemy and corpus-cularianism, cf. W.R. Newman, Gehennical Fire: The Lives of George Starkey (Cambridge, Mass., 1994), esp. ch. 3.
24. On the corpuscularian implications of sixteenth-century debates concerning natural minima and the continued existence of elements inside mixtures, see N.E. Emerton, The Scientific Reinterpretation of Form (Ithaca, 1984), ch. 3;
25. and W. Subow, "Zur Geschichte des Kampfes zwischen dem Atomismus und dem Aristotelismus im 17. Jahrhundert (Minima naluralia und Mixtio)," in N.A. Figurowski et al., eds., Sowjetische Beiträge zur Geschichte der Wissenschaft (Berlin, 1960), 161-91.
26. B. Papst, Atomtheorien des lateinischen Mittelalters (Darmstadt, 1994), though denying the relevance of minima naturalia debates for medieval atomism (272-6), does not state whether he holds the same thesis with respect to the sixteenth century (315).
27. K. Lasswitz, Geschichte der Atomistik vom Mittelalter bis Newton, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1890), 1: 502.
28. E. Lubin, Phosphorus, de prima causa et natura malt (Rostock, 1601).
29. J. Bodin, Universæ naturæ thealrum (Frankfurt, 1597).
30. Hill, Philosophia Epicurea. The first edition was Paris, 1601.
31. D. Gorlaeus, Exercitationes Philosophicæ quibus vniuersa fore discutilur Philosophia Theoretica. Et plurima ac præipua Peripatelkorum dogmata euertuntur (Leyden, we may call (as Potamon Alexandrinus, quoted by Diogenes Laertius, long before us) the ELECTING, because they cull and select out of others, what they most approve. [⋯] Here we declare our selves of this Order [⋯]."
32. J. De Launoy, De Varia Aristotelis in Academia Parisiensi Fortuna, 3rd edition, (Paris, 1662), chapter 16: "Alterum, Doctorem Medicum extitisse nomine Sebastianum Bassonem, qui anno MDCXXI. Aristotelem aggressus est, & naturalem illius Philosophiam & philosophandi modum quanto potuit studio ac diligentia refellit. De illius ad lectorem praefatione istud deliberatum imus: «Sed properantem est Aristotelis quae maxima est apud omnes Doctores [⋯]»." The first two editions don't contain the Basson chapter.
33. On the rehabilitation of authors criticized by Aristotle, cf. T. Gregory, "Studi sull'atomismo del Seicento. I. Sebastiano Basson," Giomale critiro della filosofia italiana. Terza serie 43 (1964), 38-65, esp. 38-45 and 49, fn. 2.
34. Gregory overlooks an important source for Basson's arguments pro Veteribus: F. Piccolomini, "De placitis veterum philosophorum," in Librorum ad scientiam de natura attinentium pars prima (Venice, 1594), 28-140.
35. Gelsus: "Primoque tnedendi scientia sapientiae pars habebatur, [⋯] Ideoque multos ex sapientiae professoribus peritos eius fuisse accipimus, clarissimos vero ex his Pythagoran et Enpedoclen et Democritum. Huius autem, ut quidam crediderunt, discipulus Hippocrates Cous, primus ex omnibus memoria dignus, a studio sapientiae disciplinant hanc separavit, vir et arte et facundia insignis." Quoted from: Celse. De la médecine, ed. Guy Serbat (Paris, 1995), 3-4.
36. Cf. Basson, s.p. [xxix]. The earliest Latin edition of the Epistola ad Damagetum is J. Cornarius (=Hagenbut), Hippocratis Coi, medicorum omnium longè principis, Epislolæ elegantissimæ, cum quibusdam alijs[⋯], mine primùm editæ (Cologne, 1542).
37. Cf. O. Temkin, "Hippocrates as the Physician of Democritus," Gesnerus 42 (1985): 455-64.
38. M.A. Severino, Zootomia Democritea (Nuremberg, 1645),
39. where the legend of Hippocrates' apprenticeship with Democritus is made to support an atomist anatomy, M. Malpighi, Memorie di me Marcello Malpighi a i miei posten faite in villa l'anno 1689 [MS BU 2085, VI], where the author explains how Borelli introduced him "to the study of free and Democritean philosophy."
40. Basson, s.p. [xxxv-vi]: "Amicus Socrates, amicus Plato, magis tamen arnica Veritas," which is almost identical to the motto on the title page. Cf. J. Philoponus, De aeternitate mundi contra Proclum, ed. H. Rabe (Leipzig, 1899), 144:
41. H. Conring, "In Aristotelis laudem oratio prima" [1632], in Opera (Braunschweig, 1730), 5: 729, fn. h: "Quid? Nonne Plato [⋯] sententiam illam «amicus Socrates, sed magis arnica Veritas», passim repetit [⋯]?"
42. Basson, 49; 77-129; 312; et passim. Cf. Basson's imagery with that of Alexander Richardson (1565-1621), in whose Logicians School-Master we read: "as in the mist we see that fire cannot get out because tis nailed in by water, nor air for tis pinned in by earth." Quoted from Newman, Gehennical Fire, 30.
43. Cf. Lasswitz, Geschichte, 472-3;
44. R. Hooykaas, Het Begrip Element in zijn historisch-wijsgeerige ontwikkeling (Utrecht, 1933), part 10.7.1.
45. H.H. Kubbinga, "Les premières théories 'moléculaires:' Isaac Beeckman (1620) et Sébastien Basson (1621)," Revue de l'histoire des sciences 37 (1984), 215-33.
46. Sennert retains, pace Basson, substantial forms and the forma mixti. D. Sennert, De Chymicorum cum Aristotelicis et Galenicis Consensu ac liissensu Liber, 2nd ed., (Wittenberg, 1629), ch. 9
47. ("De Formis Seminibus seu astris rerum" and "De Origine Formarum"). Cf. E. Michael, "Daniel Sennert on Matter and Form," Early Science and Medicine 2 (1997): fall issue [forthcoming].
48. Opinions pointing in the same direction were expressed by Galileo, Gassendi, Charleton, Cordemoy, or Leibniz. A particularly interesting attempt to persuade the Catholic hierarchy of such a view is represented by Nazari, cf. J.-M. Gardair, Le 'Giornale de' Letterati' de Rome (1668-1681) (Florence, 1984), 50; 215-6.
49. On the Mutakallimûn, cf. Moses Maimonides, The Guide for the Perplexed (New York, 1956), 120-44;
50. Lasswitz, Geschichte, I: 135-150;
51. and esp. A. Dhanani, Kalam and Hellenistic Cosmology. Minimal Parts in Bastian Mu'tazili Atomism, (Ph.D. thesis, Harvard University, 1991), esp. 182-334.
52. F. Toletus, Commentaria vna cum Quætionibus. In octo libros Aristotelis de Physica auscultalione, 2nd ed. (Venice, 1580), 60 (bk. 2, ch. 3, q. 8): "Fuit enim sententia quorundam Araborum, quorum meminit Auer. 9. Metaphy. Com. 7. & dispu.3.c.18 qui dicebant causas has inferiores nihil operari, sed Deum solum ad ipsarum præsentiam effectus facere: unde solus Deus ad præsentiam ignis comburit, ad præsentiam cuiusque alterius agentis operatur: ipsæ particulares causae solum se habent, ut signa actionis diuinæ. Hoc recipit inter Theologos Gabr.4. ent.dist.i.q.i. contra quam sententiam disputat S. Thom.2. contra gen. c.69. & qq. de potentia q. 3. ar. 7. & 1.p.q.105. artic.5. fundamenta Gabri. sunt duo: alterum est. Frustra fiunt per plura, quæ possunt fieri per pauciora: sed potest Deus se solo operari cuncti: ergo frustra ponitur cooperatio causarum particularium."
53. Basson, 333: "admittendam esse substantiam aliquam corpoream, tenuissimam quidem [⋯] Se quae sit illa substantia nosse laboras. En tibi Stoici clarè manifestarunt." Basson's acquaintance with the Stoic ether is through F. Piccolomini, "De mundo," in Librorum partes V, 2: 1-41, esp. ch. 10.
54. Ibid., 335: "rerum omnium motor," "anima mundi," "spiritus uniuersi." Ibid., 334: "sicut omnium forma." Cf. P. Barker, "Stoic Contributions to Early Modern Science," in M.J. Osler, ed., Atoms, Pneuma, and Tranquillity: Epicurean and Stoic Themes in European Thought (Cambridge, 1991): 135-54. In his noteworthy article, Barker traces Basson 's indebtedness to Stoic cosmology as sketched by Cicero in De natura deorum (150-2). Since his argument has come to my attention only after the present article had already gone into print, it will unfortunately be absent from my discussion of the secondary literature on Basson (below).
55. A.M. Capecchi et al., eds., l'Accademia dei Lincei e la cultura europea nel XVII secolo. (Rome, 1991), 149.
56. E. Wohlwill, "Joachim Jungius und die Erneuerung atomistischer Lehren im 17. Jahrhundert," Abhandlungen aus dem Gebiete der Naturwissenschaften 9 (1886), 18.
57. Many of the sources cited in the following have been discovered by Lasswitz, Geschichte, 467;
58. Gregory, "Studi," 44 fn.1;
59. and L.O. Nielsen, "A Seventeenth-Century Physician on God and Atoms: Sebastian Basso," in N. Kretzmann, ed., Meaning and Inference in Medieval Philosophy. Studies in Memory of Jan Pinborg (Dordrecht, 1988), 300-1.
60. M. Mersenne, Quaestiones celeberrimae in Genesim, (Paris, 1623), col. 1838:
61. «Eundem genium in alijs recentioribus Calvinianæ, Lutheran», vel alteri hæreticae sectae addictis, ut in Verulamio, Fludo, Basso & Hil reperies [⋯]." Id., l'Impiété des Déistes, Athées, et Libertins de ce temps (Paris, 1624), 1: 237-8,
62. announcing a refutation of all kinds of heretics "en l'Encyclopedie, laquelle je prepare en faveur de toutes les véritez contre toutes sortes de mensonges, dedans laquelle j'examineray plus diligemment ce qu'ont advancé Gorlée, Charpentier, Basso, Hill, Campanelle, Brun, Vanin et quelques autres." Id., La vérité des sciences contre les septiques ou Pyrrhoniens (Paris, 1625), 109-10,
63. which names Patrizi, Basson, Gorlaeus, Bodin, Charpentier, Hill, and Olive as wormlike anti-Aristotelians. J.C. Frey, Cribrum Philosophorum (Paris, 1628), ch. 17. I owe this reference to R. Ariew's "Descartes, Basso, and Post-Renaissance Scholastics: Three Kinds of Corpuscularianism" (lecture delivered at St. Andrews in August, 1996).
64. D. Sennert, Opera (Lyons, 1666), 5: 1165-6. Döring (Breslau) to Sennert (Wittenberg), 1 February 1623: "Medicinae nostra; multa deesse, non tantùm Democrito, sed & aliis antiquioribus Philosophis ab Aristotele saepenumero iniuriam factam fuisse, monuerunt alij etiam viri literatissimi. Edidit Geneuæ ante biennium Sebastianus Basso Medicus philosophiæ naturalis [⋯] lib. 12. [⋯]: qui tarnen mihi nondum nec visi nee lecti sunt." Sennert to Döring, 23 March, 1623: "Sebastiani Bassonis librum habeo, qui me in mea de atomis sententia confirmat. Idem tarnen absurda dogmata non pauca fovet."
65. On the continued interest of physicians in the Philosophia naturalis, cf. C. Fracassati, "Exercitatio epistolica de lingua" [1665], in M. Malpighi, Opera Omnia (Leyden, 1687), 2: 185:
66. "Docet hoc experimentum, minimas, ac diversas esse salium figuras, [⋯] quamvis ipsi aquae compressionem Basso ascitat, [⋯]." H. May, Physica veteris novæ adornatæ Secundum Democriti, antiquissimi Philosophic⋯] (Frankfurt, 1688), ch. 3, where Basson is cited as an atomist alongside Mochus, Empedocles, Leucippus, Democritus, Anaxagoras, Plato, Aristoteles, Galenus, Scaliger, Sennert, and Boyle. One first-edition copy of Basson kept at Basle (Universitätsbibliothek, JH.x.24) was a gift by the physician Sebastian Ramspeck to the professor of medicine Felix Platter (1643).
67. S. Sennert, Hypomnemata (Lyons, 1637), 195-6,
68. on the subject of "Quomodo animæ coextendantur corpori:" "Hinc & alter controversia exorta est, quomodo in corporis animalium augmentatione partes, quae accrescunt, animam accipiant: quae maximis difficultatibus coniuncta, ut Zabarella quoque confitetur, & adeo obscura est, ut Sebastianum Bassonem, alias in Physicis satis perspicacem, moverit, ut formam substantialem negaret, & formam nihil aliud, quàm certam partium eiusdem generis aggregationem in optimum concentum esse, absurdè statueret." Cf. Michael, "Daniel Sennert."
69. I. Beeckman, Journal tenu par Isaac Beeckman de 1604 à 1634, ed. C. de Waard, 4 vols., (The Hague, 1939-53), 2: 243-7. 243: "Philosophia naturalis Sebastian) Bassonis incidens in manus meas, visa adhuc est parum aut nihil alienum ab iis, quae in hoc libro explicuimus, tractare." 247: "Caeterum sicut multa hic Basso benè, ita etiam nonnulla malè. Contraque sententiam Democriti non tam perversè pugnasset, pag. 578 etc., si tuborum ocularium et speculorum urentium naturam satis mathematicè, ut Kepierus cognovisset." His criticism of Basson's lack of mathematics is repeated in 2: 253.
70. Descartes to Beeckman, 17 Oct. 1630: "Unum dicit Plato, aliud Aristoteles, aliud Epicurus, Telesius, Campanella, Brunus, Basso, Vanini, novatores omnes, quisque aliud dicunt; quis ex illis docet, non dico me, sed quemcunque sapientiae studiosum?" C. Adam and P. Tannery eds., Oeuvres de Descartes (Paris, 1964), 1:158.
71. On Basson and Descartes, cf. Nielsen, "Sebastian Basso," 300.
72. Oeuvres de Descartes, 25: "Pour la raréfaction, je suis d'accord avec ce medecin, et ay maintenant pris party touchant tous les fondemens de la philosophie; mais peut-estre que je n'explique pas l'aether comme luy." The translation is Ariew's.
73. Compare C. Adam and P. Tannery eds., Oeuvres de Descaries (Paris, 1973), 8-1: 251: "Quomodo ex silicibus [ignis] excutiatur," with Basson, 92, on the "many manners in which something becomes actu hot," where he develops a similar explanation of the flint stone.
74. J. Sperling: Inslitutiones Physiæ Johannis Sperlings Profess. Publ. Edilio Quarta auctior & Corrertior (Wittenbergs, 1658; 1st ed. 1639). On the title page we read: "Philosophia non est Stoica, aut Platonica, aut Epicurea, aut Aristotelicâ, sed quaecunque ab his sectis rectè dicta sunt." Basson is cited on pp. 807-9: "Rectissimè Basso ait [⋯];" and pp. 833-4: "Basso, Vir in natura versatissimus [⋯]."
75. E. de Claves, Paradoxes ou Traitiez philosophiques des pierres et pierreries, contre l'opinion vulgaire (Paris, 1635), 186.
76. J. Ch. Magnenus, Democritus reviviscens (Pavia, 1646). Here cited from the second edition (Leyden, 1648), 46: "libertatis philosophicae vindices, qui nullius autoritatem, & omnium rationes ponderant." Beginning with his "amicus Plato, amicus Aristoteles, magis arnica Veritas" (47), too much is reminiscent of Basson to be a mere coincidence: Magnenus' wish "to return to the ancient and well-aged philosophy" of Democritus so as to escape Aristotle's predominance (182-3); the reliance on the medical tradition; the description of elements and corpuscles (57 ff); and of atomic interactions as the effect of sympathy between kindred particles (189 ff); the higher-order corpuscles (288 ff); the "spiritual effluvia" guiding the behavior of complex bodies, etc. But Magnen only cites Basson where he disagrees with him (e.g. 349).
77. T. Campanella, Syntagma de libris propriis (Paris, 1642), ch. 2, art. 5:
78. "De Ordine Legendi Libros Philosophicos:" "Ordo philosophorum legendorum [⋯] ponit [⋯] sexto, Epicureorum reliquias quas a conterraneo tuo Petro Gassendo summa diligentia colligi audio, et Lucretium ac Bassonem qui nuperrime philosophiam eiusmodi explanare aut potius instaurare conatus est." This raises the issue of Gassendi's relation to Basson. Though L.S. Joy, Gassendi the Atomist (Cambridge, 1987), 6, takes issue with the idea that Basson should be "classified in the same group [⋯] with Gassendi," not just Campanella, but other contemporaries did just that. But Gassendi does not give credit to Basson, and a close textual analysis would be required to settle the issue of the relation between the two neo-Epicureans.
79. F. de la Mothe Le Vayer, "Du Moyen de dresser vne Bibliotheque d'vne centaine de liures seulement. Lettre XIII," Œuvres (Paris, 1654), 456-7. "N'oublions pas nos intimes amis Baranzanus, & Gassendus, non plus que Sebastien Basson, [⋯]."
80. H. Conring, "In Aristotelis laudem oratio altera," Opera (Braunschweig, 1730), 5: 759, fn. b,
81. lists him as a recent anti-Aristotelian. G.W. Leibniz, "Epistola ad Exquisitissimæ Doctrinæ virum de Aristotele recentioribus reconciliabili, in Marii Nozolii Anti-Barbarus Philosophicus (Frankfurt, 1674), fol. v,
82. groups Basson with the most illustrious novatores of the current age, as does Ch. A. Heumann, Conspectus Republiæ Literariæ (Hannover, 1718), 56.
83. An exception is Ch. Sorel, La science universelle (Paris, 1668), 4: 411, who disapproves of the discrepancy between Bassori's claim to replacing Aristotle and his actual achievements.
84. D.G. Morhof, Polyhistoris Continuatio⋯, (Lübeck, 1708), 217:
85. "Dissertationes edidit Romæ anno 1574. in 4to. Seb. Basso [⋯]." C.G. Jöcher, Allgemeines Gelehrten-Lexicon, part 1 (Leipzig, 1750), I: 847:
86. "BASSO (Sebastian), [⋯] gab 1574 zu Rom in 4to Dissert, in philosophiam naturalem heraus, [⋯]." K.F. Budde, Compendium Historiæ Philosophicæ (Halle, 1731), 396-8,
87. places Basson in the vicinity of Patrizi and Telesius and defines him as an Italian Neoplatonist. J.H. Zedier, Grosses vollständiges Universal Lexicon aller Wissenschaften und Kuenste (Frankfurt, 1732 ff), 5: col. 639.
88. De Launoy, De Varia Fortuna, ch. 16.
89. Cf. J. Ch. Poggendorf, Biographisch-literarisches Handwörterbuch zur Geschichte der exacten Wissenschaften (Leipzig, 1863):
90. "[⋯] lebte in der zweiten Hälfte des XVI. Jahrhunderts." Enciclopedia universal illustrada Europa-Americana (Madrid, 1908-1930), 1093:
91. "Filósofo italiano del siglo XVI [⋯.]." J. Mayerhöfer, Lexikon der Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften (Vienna, 1959), 1: 390-1: "[⋯.] war Arzt in Paris. Über sein Leben ist nichts Näheres bekannt."
92. C. Vasoli, "Basso, Sebastiano," in Dizionario biografico degli Italiani, ed. A. Ferrabino (Rome, 1965), 7: 149-150.
93. J.-P. Schobinger, ed., Die Philosophie des 17. Jahrhunderts, vol. 2. part 2: Frankreich und Niederlande (Basle, 1993), 1056.
94. Reimann: Versuch, 3: 462-6: "Was ist das vor ein Sebastianus Basso? diesen Namen erinnere ich mich niemals gehöret zu haben? [Reply:] Das will ich dir gar gerne glauben. [⋯] Und zu dieser letzten Gattung [i.e. of neglected authors] gehöret auch unser obgedachter Sebastianus Basso. Denn von demselben finde ich sonst fast gar keine Nachricht/als die er uns selbst in seiner Philosophia naturali gegeben hat [⋯]," i.e. the few autobiographical references given in his Philosophia (s.b).
95. Lasswitz, Geschichte, 1: 467-81.
96. I. Guareschi, I. "La teoria atomistica e Sebastiano Basso con notizie e considerazioni su William Higgins," Memoria della Reale Accademia dei Lincei, Classe di Scienze Fisiche, Metematiche e Naturali. Quinta serie 11 (1916), 289-328.
97. L. Thorndike, A History of Magic and Experimental Science (New York, 1941), 7: 386-8.
98. W. Brugger, "De Sebastiano Basso Occasionalismo praeludente (1621)," Antonianum 14 (1933), 521-539.
99. Id., "Sebastian Basso. Ein Vorläufer des Okkasionalismus (1621)," in Kleine Schriften zur Philosophie und Theologie (Munich, 1984): 118-137.
100. Hooykaas, Het Begrip. Kubbinga, "Les premières théories," and similar pieces.
101. Subow, "Zur Geschichte," 178,
102. combining the insights of Annneliese Meier with those of Lasswitz, justly draws attention to Scaliger's redefinition of mixtio as "motus corporum minimorum ad mutuum contactum, ut fiat unio" and to Gorlaeus' and Basson's respective use of that definition. Gregory, Studi. Gregory's study led to further Italian contributions on the subject. Cf. Vasoli, "Basso;"
103. and G. Zanier, "Il macrocosmo corpuscularistico di Sebastiano Basson," Ricerche sull'alomismo del Seicenlo. Atti del Convegno di studio di Santa Margherita Ligure (14-16 ottobre 1976) (Florence, 1977), 77-118.
104. Nielsen, "Sebastian Basso," 297-369.
105. Basson, 647: "Quin quod diximus de aquis stagnorum ad salsuginem accedentibus experientia didicerunt nostrates in eo tractu Lotharingiæ qui à Sale vocatur le Saulnois, patria mihi charissima. Memini enim me patris mei, cuius mihi suavissima recordatio, comitem, in quædam nostra prædia, quae praealtis arundinibus consita erant, ab illos saepius audivisse." H. Lepage, ed., Dictionnaire topographique département de la Meurthe (Paris, 1862): "Saulnois (Le): pays compris dans la cité de Metz, et qui devant son nom tant à la rivière de Seille qu'aux nombreuses salines qu'on y exploitait."
106. J.C. Scaliger, Exotericarum exercitationum lib. XV de subtilitate ad Hieronymum Cordanum (Paris, 1557), exerc. 298, art. 2: "Memini præceptores meos in secundo de Anima, ex Vetustis, Retentioribusque philosoopbis, ad probandam repentinam lucis celeritatem, identidem id iactitare [⋯]."
107. Basson, Philosophic 13: "Memini; cùm Anaxagoræ sententiam ex Aristotele referret doctissimus præceptor noster Petrus Sinsonius in Academia Mussipontana Philosophiæ professor eximius, ridendo Aristotelicam fidem, Puto, inquit, Aristotelem hos veteres suis amis spoliasse, vt inermes facilius debellaret." Another unusual opinion held by Sinson is reported on p. 326.
108. M. Pernot, "Le cardinal de Lorraine et la fondation de l'université de Pont-à-Mousson," in L'université de Pont-à-Mousson et les problèmes de son temps (Nancy, 1972), 45-66.
109. P.J.M. Prat, S.J., Recherches historiques et critiques sur la Compagnie de Jésus en France du temps du P. Coton, 1564-1626, 5 vols. (Lyons, 1886), 1: 194.
110. Historia Universilatis et Collegii Mussipontani quam conscripsit P. Abram, S.J., ab institutione ad annum 1650 (Bibliothèque municipale de Nancy, MS. 923 (41)), 210r ff;
111. and the (unreliable) Traduction de l'histoire manuscripte de l'université et du collège de Pont-à-Mousson de P. Abram. Jesuite, avec, des Notes par Marigothus, 8 vols., 1755 (ibid., MS. 924-931 (40)), esp. 6: 79-84.
112. Abram, Historia, 210r ff. "Petrus Sinsonius [⋯] jam inde a pueritia bonis moribus ac litteris institutus, inter pauperes henrici 3tii regis christianissimi qui ad eclesia gallicanae subsidium subnostrorum disciplina regiis sumptibus alebantur in claromontano collegio, Societati nomen dedit anno 1589, absolutis que mussiponti theologiae studiis annno 1593 duodeciqesium [sic, at any rate, it should be the 18th course] philosophiae curriculum ingressus, earn per sexennium explicavit, mox habendis ad populum concionibus applicatus, cum admodurn eloquentiae Lhullianae laudem efflovercevet [sic] [⋯.]."
113. Basson, 671: "Memini, Roms ubi rari sunt fontes qui non arte vehantur aliunde vidisse me in monte Cœlio in cœnobio D. Antonij puteum altas profunditatis, ex quo propterea assiduis ingentis rotae gyris quam hausturus ingrediebatur aqua copiosa trahebatur." R. Enking: S. Andrea cata Barbara e S. Antonio Abbate sull'Esquilino [= Le Chiese di Roma illustrate, vol. 83] (Rome, 1964), 55-84. Basson, 688, contains another Roman reference.
114. Conclusions de l'Académie protestante de Die, 1604-1626 (Archives départementales de la Drôme, D 52), 78r.
115. The Jesuit strategy employed at Die followed a pattern first tried at Nîmes, cf. F. Moreil and A.-M. Duport, Religions et éducation à Nîmes. Les vicissitudes du collège et de l'académie réformée, XVIe/XVIIIe siècles (Nîmes, 1995), 12-4.
116. Cf. H.-C. Toupin, Justine de la Tour-Gouvemel, Baronne de Poët-Gélard (1591-1622): Récit de sa conversation du Protestantisme à la religion Catholique (Montbéliard, 1894).
117. On the historical figures of the Dauphiné, cf. A. Rochas, Biographie du Dauphiné, [⋯], 2 vols. (Paris, 1856 & 1860);
118. J. Brun-Durand: Dictionnaire Biographique et Biblio-Iconographique de la Drôme (Grenoble, 1900-01);
119. E. & E. Haag, La France Protestante ou Vies des Protestant français (Genève, 1966).
120. On Die, cf. J. Chevalier, Essai historique sur l'Église et la Ville de Die, 3 vols. (Montélimar and Valence, 1888-1909);
121. id., Mémoires de Frères Gay de Die. Pour servir à l'histoire des guerres de religion en Dauphiné et spécialement dans le Diois (Montbéliard, 1888);
122. A. Masseport, "Religion et vie quotidienne à Die (1659-1685), in ed. P. Bolle, Le Protestantisme en Dauphiné au XVIIe siècle (La Bégude-de-Mazenc, 1983), 173-231.
123. On the Academy, cf. E. Arnaud, Histoire de l'académie protestante de Die en Dauphiné au XVIIe siècle (Paris, 1872);
124. J. Brun-Durand, "Les Amis de Jean Dragon. Professeur à l'Académie Protestante de Die," Bulletin de la Société Départementale d'Archéologie et de Statistique de la Drôme 23 (1889), 397-439; 24 (1890), 34-55, 117-140, 294-309, 401-418; 25 (1891), 62-72, 162-178, 299-312; 25 (1892), 34-49, 200-233.
125. On Lesdiguières, cf. Le Conte Douglas and J. Roman, Actes et correspondance du Connétable de Lesdiguières, 3 vols. (Grenoble, 1878-84).
126. On Jean Steck, cf. H.J. Leu: Allgemeines Hevetisches/ Eydgenößisches/Oder Schweitzerisches Lexicon⋯, (Zurich, 1762), 17: 608 ff.;
127. Historischer Verein des Kantons Bern, ed., Sammlung Bernischer Biographien (Berne, 1884), 1: 359-64.
128. Moreil and Duport, Religions et education, 23-9; the school regulations prescribe, for the first regent: "In logicis et rhetoricis, Piatonis et Aristotelis docti-nam præceptor tantum proponito: ne quo suos ad novam doctrinam traducito" (ibid., 48).
129. Arnaud, Histoire de l'Académie, 17-19.
130. The Jesuit Isnard spoke in early 1620 of "a harangue which a few days ago [Basson] delivered against the austerity of monks," which implies that Basson's orational skills were considered useful in the city's battle with the Jesuit missionaries. Cf. [I. d'Horel =] J. Isnard, S.J., Le Mercure reformé apportant consolation a Messieurs et reverends pères, les ministres du Dyois et Valentinois, désolez, hélas! pour la perte de Mme Du Poët et de cent autres reduits à l'Eglise catholique, l'an 1619, en ces pays [etc.] ([La Rochelle =] Tournes, [s.d.=] 1620).
131. Isnard, Le Mercure reformé.
132. On Isnard, cf. C. Sommervogel, S.J., Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, nouvelle édition, (Bruxelles and Paris, 1893), 4: 686-7.
133. Cf. E. Arnaud, Bibliographie Huguenote du Dauphiné pendent les trois derniers siècles (Grenoble, 1894). The libraries at Valence, Grenoble, and Die and the relevant archives départementales possess no copy of Basson's book.
134. Arnaud, Histoire, 62-3;
135. Brun-Durand, "Les Amis," 434. Thanks to a printing error in Isnard (Le Mercure reformé, 59), both authors assumed that Basson was a defrocked priest. However, Isnard's Errata sheet corrects "Prestre pour Rhetoricien."
136. Conclusions, 80r: "Sr Basson premier régent naguèrre admis par provision a superviser en la premiere classe."
137. Conclusions, 80v: "A este rapporte que le Sr Basson remier regent sest desporte indiscretement a la poursuite qu'il fit de l'entree (en ceste ville) de sa fiancee [⋯]". Registre ou receuil de tous lis actes des Synodes qui ont esté tenu en la Province du Dauphiné despuis l'an M.D.C. par I. de Saigues, L. an M.DC.XV. à Dieule-fit, 1615 (Musée de Die, 68.5.31), 609. With Berne is meant Lausanne, which was then in Bernese territory. The Bassons must soon after have married at Die, for the lady in question appears from now on as femme instead of fiancée. Unfortunately, the Protestant church registers for 1611 and the following years are missing (Archives municipales de Die, GG.22).
138. Conclusions, 89r. On the role of Ducros, see above.
139. Registre ou receuil, 657.
140. Registre ou receuii, 700 and 704:
141. "Mr Sebastien Basson s'est semblablement presente demandant estre ouy en proposiant à laquelle il a esté admit. Apres avoir monstré [⋯] ses tesmoignages lesquels ont esté tenuz bons et lui à esté donné pour text le 16. verse du chap. 3. de l'Evangile solon Saint Jean. [⋯] Mr. Sebastien Basson aiant esté ouy en sa proposition françoise à esté exhorté de s'exercer aux propositions entre cy et le prochain synode et neantmoins de continuer cependant d'enseigner en la premiere Classe de l'Academie die Die." The rules guiding the admission to the pastoral ranks required that a candidate be given, on two subsequent days, a biblical text first in French and then in Latin, for a lesson to be delivered on the following day; cf. Morel and Duport, Religions et education, 60-1.
142. Brun-Durand, "Les amis," 433.
143. Conclusions, 133r-134r: "pour les grandes legertes qu'il avoit commises notoirement en soustinant les escolier rebellier."
144. Conclusions, 141v-142r: "Le conseil academique assemblé a lissue de la predication Monsieur Basson a supplié [⋯] de le vouloir descharger de la escarge de premier Regent qui luy avoit esté donnee il y [a] quatre ou cinq années passe [⋯] pour office du ministre⋯"
145. Registre ou receuil, p. 832: "Le Sr Basson apres avoir esté exhorté de continuer sa residence en l'Académie de Die, et avoir en assurance qu'on le recommandera au Bureau de ladite Academie, pour le laisser en la possession de sa charge, a demandé d'estre receu a l'examin pour la profession de la chaire hebraique vacante. Sur quoy a esté dit que sa demande est renvoyée lorce qu'on sera le restablissent des charges de ladite Acadmie. Et qu'en l'esgalité des con-tendants, il sera preferé. Six escus luy estant accordé pour son voyage." But one page later, Professor Sharpe appears before the Synod to demand that the professor of Hebrew be a minister, a requirement that excluded Basson.
146. Deliberations du consistoire de Die, 1614-17 (Archives départementales de la Drôme, Valence, D.56), 23r-24v.
147. Conclusions, 183r.
148. Conclusions, 188v-189v.
149. Registre ou receuil, p. 879.
150. Conclusions, 225v-226r: "que sa barbe blanche en sçavoit plus qu'eux."
151. Conclusions, 231r.
152. Conclusions, 244r-v: "et notamment avoir usé des termes des furieux Cabalistes."
153. Conclusions, 249v: "le Sr Recteur a remonstre que le Sieur Basson Regent de la premiere Classe sest absenté quelques jours du college sans congé, et notamment les jours de la foire de Chastillon pour se trouver a lacy foire et que la y soit porté scandal sestant battu avec un certain de ceste ville [⋯] nommé Chabanon."
154. "Le Sr. Basson regent de la premiere classe a esté appellé a deux foie, appres a comparu disant qu'il ne vouloit dire autre chose que ce qu'il dit hier assavoir Conged et argent. Exhorté de se contenir dans la modestie et de ne s'eschapper de parolles comme il fit hier a la place publique. Il a repliqué qu'il est prest d'en fer manifeste dans lequel il dira qu'il a nié Dieu. // Surquoy opiné et luy donné conged et le payé totalement iusqu a present. Ce qui a esté effectué." Conclusions, 256r.
155. Conclusions, 256v.
156. Isnard, Le Mércure reformé, 59-61: "M. [⋯.] si le Prestre [= Rhetoricien, according to the Errata sheet] susdict à qui la quatriesme partie de Musique a donné le nom, a laissé moisir & ransir la charis quae sessitabat in labijs, toute emmiellee quand il chantoit au choeur iadis, l'aage l'excuse; [⋯] R.: Il deuroit estre gagé pour quatre, quoy qu'il die, car il emplit la chaire d'vn Medecin, d'vn Prestre, d'vn Iuris consulte, & d'vn Rhetoricien, [⋯]. M.: Vous abusez du loisir, il n'est question que de la Rhetorique. Ce sacerot de son temple est à loüer, il n'en a iamais rien perdu, ny peu perdre; son Latin n'est pas tant bien peigné que sa commere, l'art qu'il dicte aux escholiers est à grosse trames, & n'est bon qu'il tombe entre les mains des rhetoriciens aux Iesuites. [⋯] Requiescat in pace, il demande vn successuer, & le faut pour l'art de bien dire, ingenieux, vif, gay, mais ou le pescher? O si ce Iesuiste vouloit monter ce cheual de Troye, & prendre le benefice, & la prebende de nostre harangueur! nous luy donnerions deux cens escus pour son plat, & vne belle fille pour luy faire son lict [⋯]."
157. S. Stelling-Michaud, Ed., Le livre du recteur de l'Académie de Genève (1559-1878), 6 vols. (Geneva, 1959-80), 1: 159: "Promoti anno 1618, Rectore Joanne Deodalo," no. 2360: "Carolus Tonnardus, Gratianopolitanus."
158. Of the son, the "noble Charles Tonnard Sieur d'Izon Conseiller du Roy en sa cour [⋯] de Grenoble" (the royal charge dates from 1629), we know little. He married Magdaleine de la Morte (1630), separated from her again without divorce, and functioned for some time as one of the "Conseillers de la Chambre de l'Édit de Grenoble." Cf. Documents MSS pour servir à l'histoire du Dauphiné, (Archives départementales de l'Isère, Grenoble, R. 80), esp. f. 757v;
159. Fonds Pilot, Avocats au Parlement de Grenoble, (ibid., R. 7906.379, vol. 9 [379]), f. 189;
160. and E. Arnaud, Histoire des Protestants du Dauphiné aux XVIe, XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, 3 vols. (Paris, 1875-6), 2: 445.
161. Douglas and Roman, Actes et correspondance, 2: 256-7: "Claude de Tonnard, seigneur d'Yson, conseiller du Roy et commissaire des guerres [⋯] habitant [⋯] de la ville de Grenoble."
162. Already called "noble" in 1596, his privileges, temporarily suspended, were renewed by Henri IV in 1602, "for the services rendered during twenty years to his Majesty." His title, Dominus d'lson, refers to a domain in the region of Grenoble bought in 1596. Cf. "Les lettres d'annoblissement accordéés a Claude Tonnard [⋯] par Henry le Grand," (ibid., Documents MSS pour servir à l'histoire du Dauphiné, R. 80), f 757r.
163. Douglas and Roman, Actes et correspondance, 1: 443-4, misidentify Tonnard père as "Jean Tonnard, commis à la recette des Finances et commissaire des guerres en Dauphiné."
164. J.-R. Le Fèvre, Le Pourtraict de l'Homme, mis a son lour, et rehaussé en vives et esclatantes couleurs (Grenoble, 1629). Its dedication is "A Nobles et Vertueux Monsieur Tonnard, Conseillier du Roy [⋯], et Monsieur d'Izon conseillier du Roy au Parlement et Chambre de l'Edict de Grenoble, son fils."
165. Arnaud, Histoire de l'Académie, 47-8; 59-60.
166. De Redon had in 1617 begun to substitute for his father as the fourth regent at Die. In 1619, he converted to Catholicism and followed the two scholars to the Jesuit College at Vienne (s.a.). Already in 1620 he returned to Die, pleading to be readmitted to his position. Cf. E. Arnaud, Notice sur David de Redon, professeur de philosophie à Die, Orange, Nîmes et Genève, (Nîmes, 1872);
167. D. de Rodon, Quatre raisons pour lesquelles on doit quitter la religion prétendue réformée (Paris, 1631).
168. Cf. D. de Rodon, Dispulalio De Atomis (Nîmes, 1661),
169. and the more complete editio altera auctior & lorupletior (Geneva, 1662).
170. Less is known of Le Fèvre's colleagues. Jean-François Visconti, first professor of philosophy from 1607 to 1621, doesn't seem to have published anything beyond theological broadsheets. His interim successor, the theologian John Sharpe, was a fairly orthodox thinker. Only where Aristotle seemed incompatible with revealed religion did his preference for Plato come to the fore. But he certainly had no weakness for atomism. In response to the question of "An fuerit initio aliquod Chaos, ex quo reliqua omnia postea desumpta fuerunt," Sharpe summarized the view of the ancient philosophers, including the atomists: "Democritus aut corpuscula insensibilia numero infinita fortuitò quatuor elementa generasse dixit, ex quibus reliqua generantur & corrumpuntur: ita & Epicurus." But he rejected them at once: "Quæ omnia Moses refutat, cùm ait In principia creavit, [⋯]." J. Sharpe: Symphonia Prophetarum, el Apostolorum, (Geneva, 1625), 20.
171. Cf. J.R. Le Fèvre, Medulla partis communis physicæ de principiis et affectionibus corporis naturalis (Die, 1615), 21-2, where the author defends hylomorphism and rejects all other binary ways of analyzing matter: "neque plenum & vacuum, ut Democritus, Leucippus, & Epicurus [dixerunt⋯.:] Vacuum nullo modo habet rationem Entis; Ergo non potest esse principium rerum naturalium. Deinde plenum sive atomi quæ significantur vacabulo pleni, cum non ferantur sursum, non possunt esse principia rerum quae sursum feruntur, & sic nullo modo principia: unde refutantur Democritus, Leucippus, & Epicurus."
172. At a public disputation of 1615, over which Le Fèvre presided, asked, inter alia, "An elementa maneant in mixto," cited from A. Roux-Livron, l'Académie de Die, en Dauphiné, 1604-84, Appendix II (Archives départementales de la Drôme. B 829-11).
173. From his Sophiæ Viridaria Purpurissatis referta violis (Die, 1617), 13-4, it appears that Le Fèvre himself was fairly confused over the issue, preferring to offer conflicting definitions to defining his own position: "Mixtio est miscibilium alteratorum unio, qui fit primò ex concursu quatuor elementorum in unum locum, 2. ex mutua eorum actione & alteratione, 3. ex mutua eorundem dissecatione & adhæsione secundùm minutissimas partes, 4. ex introductione formæ mixti, 5. ex temperie quatuor primarum qualitatum." In Le Fèvre, Cursus, he shows a slight shift towards a corpuscularian conception. E.g. 25: "Notandum secundò mixtionem dici unionem sive concretionem conglutinationem & concordiam miscibilium, quatuor nempe elementorum, qui natura mixti oritur, & resultat ex arctissima conjunctione quatuor elementorum, quæ unita & temperata transeunt in unam naturam substantialem;" 46: "Certum est res non posse inter se misceri nisi per mutuum contactum, nec posse in se invicem agere & pati, nisi se mutuò contingant & inter se cohserent, ideo nunc de contactu agendum est." But Aristotle's remains his only truth, 267: "Decimaquinta [opinio] quae sola vera est, fuit Aristotelis dicentis principia interna & per se constitutionis corporum naturalium esse duo, nempe materiam & formam [⋯]."
174. D. Th. Terrisse: Theses Universal Philosophiæ Christianæ/Pro summâ laureâ consequenda (Die, 1642), 12: "XI. Mixtio perfecta communiter definitur miscibilium alteratorum unio, sed obscura & inadaequata est huiusmodi defmitio, proinde aliter, est mutatio substantial physica & sensibilis in qua plura entia naturalia corporea media actione & passione reciproca débité alterata substantialiter uniuntur. Mixtum verò est compositum substantialiter resultans ex huiusmodi mutatione, in eo consequenter sunt miscibilia formaliter & actu secundùm proprias entitates. // XII. Quælibet substantia physica non est materialis & corporea, sed [⋯] & divisibile in plures partes proportionales & aliquotas, numero finitas, ex quibus ultimæ sunt indivisibiles, & sic componitur ex indivisibilibus physicis numero finitis."
175. "À cet effet, tous les notables de la ville et autres de la province seront exhortés de faire don de quelques livres avec prescription de leurs noms. Notamment au prochain synode, tous Messieurs les pasteurs, qui y seront, seront suppliés de donner. [⋯]; et quand sera fait quelque don, lorsqu'il y écherra d'enrôler ledit livre et le mettre dans ladite bibliothèque, les sieurs recteur et premier consul seront présent tous deux. Tous les théologiens et autres voulant sortir de l'académie avec attestation, même tous ceux qui passent maîtres aux arts ou bacheliers, seront tenus de donner un livre selon leur discrétion avant que pouvoir avoir leurs attestations ou lettres." Cited from P. Aquilon, "Petites et moyennes bibliothèques (1530-1660)," ed. C. Jolly, Histoire des bibliothèques françaises. Les bibliothèques sous l'Ancien Régime 1530-1789 (Paris, 1988), 189.
176. Isnard, Le Mercure réformé, 57 ff.
177. Nielsen, "Sebastian Basso," 344-5.
178. H. Zwingli, "Sermonis de Providentia Dei anamnema," in: Opera completa editio prima, (Zurich, 1841), 79-144.
179. "Causas secundas iniuria causas vocari" (p.86); "sed quum Deus solus sit omnium virtus, solus omnia potest ac facit etiara" (p.96); "Atque ut summatim dicamus, non procreat humus, non alit aqua, non fecundat aër, neque sol ipse, sed virtus ista, quæ origo est rerum omnium, vita et robur, terra velut instrumento ad generandum ac producendum utitur" (p. 97). J. Calvin, "Contre la secte phantastique et furieuse des Libertins qui se nomment spirituelz," in: Opera qua supersunt omnia, (Braunschweig, 1868), 7: cols. 147-248.
180. "Ainsi quand nous voyons le cours ordinaire des choses terriennes, soyons advertis d'attribuer à Dieu le tout, et tenir les creatures comme instrumens estans en sa main pour les appliquer à l'oeuvre comme il luy plaist" (col. 187), quoted in Nielsen, "Sebastian Basso," 365-6.
181. C. Santschi, La censure à Genève au XVIIe siècle. De l'Escalade à la Révocation de l'Edit de Nantes (Geneva, 1978). The Basson affair is mentioned on pp. 42-3.
182. Cf. Ch. Meinel, "Early Seventeenth-Century Atomism. Theory, Epistemology, and the Insufficiency of Experiment," Isis 79 (1988): 68-103;
183. Ch. Lüthy, "Atomism, Lynceus, and the Fate of 17th-Century Microscopy," Early Science and Medicine 1 (1996): 1-27.