Book Details

A Subtle and Mysterious Machine

Publication year: 2005

ISBN: 978-1-4020-3378-0

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Walter Charleton (1619-1707) has been widely depicted as a natural philosopher whose intellectual career mirrored the intellectual ferment of the ‘scientific revolution’. Instead of viewing him as a barometer of intellectual change, I examine the previously unexplored question of his identity as a physician. Examining three of his vernacular medical texts, this volume considers Charleton’s thoughts on anatomy, physiology and the methods by which he sought to understand the invisible processes of the body.


Subject: Humanities, Social Science and Law, Anatomy, evolution, natural philosophy, philosophy, physiology