Abstract
At home once again in Leiden, Gerard matriculated in the Faculty of Letters of the University on February 26, 1717.1 He probably studied there for the customary two years before he entered the Faculty of Medicine.2 On July 3, 1725 he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Medicine with a dissertation on the arteries of the human body.3
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LeidUB, Archieven van Senaat en Faculteiten der Leidsche Universiteit, 13: Volumina inscriptionum VII (1699–1727), p. 352. Album studiosorum Academiae Lugduno-Batavae MDLXXV-MDCCCLXXV (The Hague, 1875), col. 851. In both of these his age is given as 21 when in fact he was 16.
Philip C. Molhuysen, Bronnen tot de geschiedenis der Leidsche Universiteit (“Rijks geschied-kundige publication,” XX, XXIX, )(XXVIII, XLV, XLVIII, LIII, LVI; 7 vols., The Hague, 1913–24), V, 215 (Appendix: Catalogus promotorum). Gerard van Swieten, Dissertatiomedicainauguralis,Dearteriaefabricaetefficaciaincorporehuman... [etc.] (Leiden, 1725).
LeidUB, Archiven... Universiteit, 13: Volumina inscriptionum VII( 1697–1727), p. 352.
LeidUB, Archiven... Universiteit, 88–95: Recensielijsten.
LeidUB, Archiven... Universiteit, 88–95: Recensielijsten.
For a discussion of Cartesianism in Holland see Ferdinand Sassen, Geschiedenis van de wijsbegeerte in Nederland tot het einde der negentiende eeaw (Amsterdam, 1959), pp. 120–90.
Lipsius was professor of history and law, 1578–91; Scaliger, professor of Latin, antiqui-ties, and history, 1593–1609; Sylvius, professor of medicine and chemistry, 1658–72.
Willem de Sitter, Short history of the observatory at the University of Leiden, 1633–1933 (Haarlem, 1933), p. 8.
From here one could also get a good view of the city, according to a visitor in the early eighteenth century, Zacharias Conrad von Uffenbach, Merkwürdige Reisen durch Niedersachsen Holland and Engelland (Ulm, 1753), pp. 396–98. Uffenbach also describes in detail the instru-ments he found here.
Hesso Veendorp, Ho ri vs Academicvs Lvgdvno-Batavvs, 1587–1937 (Haarlem, 1938), p. IO2; Albrecht von Haller, Haller in Holland; het dagboek... (1725–1727), ed. G. A. Lindeboom (Delft, 1958), PP. 45, 98–99; Uffenbach, pp. 403–04.
Francois Schuyl, Catalogus van alle de principaalste rariteiten die op de Anatomie-learner, binnen de stadt Leiden vertoond werden (Leiden, 1727).
Haller, PP. 43–44, 99; Uffenbach, e.g., PP. 419, 427–29, 459–65, 468–71.
Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonne des sciences, des arts et des métiers (17 vols., Paris, 1751–65), IX, 451 •
Cassirer, pp. 61–62. On s’Gravesande’s life see the article by E. Montreux in Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek (Leiden, 1924), VI, cols. 623–27; for his philosophy, Sassen, pp. 224–27.
On Voltaire’s journey to Leiden, see Pierre Brunet, Les physiciens Hollandais et la méthode experimentale en France au XVIIIe siècle (Paris, 1926), pp. 117–19.
Oeuvres completes (70 vols., Kehl, 1784–89), LII, 450.
(And flattered the Prince that he would attract many more!) Ibid, LXIV, 29 (in-correctly dated).
Ibid, p. 40: “aufrichtig, ohne Geheimnuss, ohne Einbildung, dienstfertig, gutherzig, freundlich.”
T. A. Sprague, in Memorialia Herman Boerhaave, optimi medici, p. 93.
Gibbs stresses this aspect of his work. Vol. V of Analecta Boerhaaviana contains Boerhaave’s correspondence with the Imperial Court physician at Vienna, Joannes Baptista Bassand.
J. E. Kroon, “Boerhaave as professor-promotor,” Janus, XXIII (1918), 291.
Haller, p. 93 (where he says 80 or 90), and 3g.
LeidAHM, 35113: an interesting document signed by Boerhaave, dated February r 5, 1721, requesting, for anatomical dissection, the body of a criminal condemned to execution.
On Haller, the short chapter of Sigerist in his The great doctors, pp. 191–204, may be useful and convenient.
J. D. Comrie in Memorialia Herman Boerhaave, optimi medici, pp. 32–39.
Sigerist in ibid, pp. 40–45, or in his On the history of medicine, pp. 202–08.
King, The background of Herman Boerhaave’s doctrines, p. t s. King is closely followed here.
A method of studying physick... written in Latin, trans. into English by Mr. Samber (London, 1719).
Reported at length in the second part of Herman Boerhaave, Medical correspondence; containing the various symptoms of chronical distempers; the professor’s opinion, method of cure, and remedies; to which is added Boerhaave’s practice in the hospital at Leyden, with his manner of instructing his pupils in the cure of diseases (London, 1745). The date of both cases is given as the fall of 1737.
In Analecta Boerhaaviana, ed. and trans. G. A. Lindeboom, Vols. III and V.
Burton, p. 62; Haller, p. 40; Molhuysen, Brennen, V, I (Bijlagen: Series lectionem, 1725).
Haller, pp. 38–39. Three letters of Boerhaave to Fénelon (the ambassador, not the famous archbishop) appear in C. Sommé, “Lettres inédits de H. Boerhaave et G. van Swieten; précédées de quelques réflexions,” Annales de la Société de Médecine d’Anvers, XII (1851), 665–82.
Analecta Boerhaaviana, trans. G. A. Lindeboom, V, 249 and 265.
Ibid, pp. 22–23; trans. Sigerist, On the history of medicine, p. 200.
A. C. J. De Vrankrijker, Vier eeuwen Nederlandsch studentleoen (Voorburg, n.d.), p. 87.
Hendrich Benthem, Holländischer Kirch-und Schulen-Staat (Frankfurt, 1688), Pt. II, p. 36.
Haller, p. 50. Concerning fees, Haller also noted, p. 59, that each private course cost 3o guilders (public lectures were free).
J. Belonje, “Een Leidse promotie in 1696,” Leidsjaarboekje, XLII (í95o), 122–25.
E. Hulshoff Pol, “Een Zweed te Leiden in 1769, uit het reisdagboek van J. H Lidén,” Leidsjaarboekje, L (1958), 127–45.
Journal of a horticultural tour through some parts of Flanders, Holland, and the north of France, in the autumn of 1817 by a deputation of the Caledonian Horticultural Society (Edinburgh, 1823), pp. 156, 163.
(Georges) Cuvier and [François Jos.] Noël, Rapport sur lesétablissements d’instruction pu-blique en Holland, et sur les réunir dl’Université Impériale. (Paris, 1811).
LeidGA, Rechterlijk Archief, 88, Vol. K, fol. 95 verso; LeidGA, Doop-en trouwboeken van de R. K. kerken (Appelmarkt), 1729
In “Plan pour la Faculté de la Medecine,” in Kink, I, Pt, 2. 256–57.
Molhuysen, Bronnen, V, 137 (Acta senatus, 1734).
See the letter of medical advice to De Gorter, dated October 30, 1730, LeidGA, 8870; the correspondence with De Wind, to which we shall again refer, AmstUB, H. S. E. f. 176–79.
Three letters, dated September 5 and November 22, 1739 and one undated, continuing Boerhaave’s consultations with Groenen, in Sommé, pp. 680–82.
LeidGA, Secretarie Archief, 2278, p. 69; Berckel, p. 178.
LeidGA, Secretarie Archief, 2278, p. 72; Berckel, pp. 178–79.
On the history of Catholic poor relief see J. P. A. Brand, “Roomsch-Katholiek parochiaal armbestuur van Leiden, 1739–1939,” Leids jaarboekje, XXXII (1940), 14.4–51. los Ibid, p. 148.
LeidGA, Secretarie Archief, 2278, p. 93; Berckel, p. 182.
WienONB, 11214:2; Van Leersum, “Cours de Boerhaave,” Janus, XXIII (1918), 323. He did not use it for Albinus’ physiology or anatomy courses — WienÖNB, 110 57–59, and 11060–62.
It might be appropriate at this point to provide a checklist of these manuscript volumes:
Herman Boerhaave, Praelectiones academicae, in proprias Institutions rei medicae (6 vols. in 7, Göttingen, 1739–4.4). Haller was evidently too quick for Van Swieten. That Van Swieten was annoyed at Haller is clear in letters to his friend Dr. Sanchez at St. Petersburg; see WienONB, 12713, fol. III-12, 119–20, 126–27, 140–41, 144-45.
See Lindeboom’s bibliography in Vol. I of Analecta Boerhaaviana, pp. 47–54.
E. C. van Leersum, “Een notarieele geneeskundige verklaring uit de achttiende eeuw,” Nederlandsch tijdschrift voor geneeskunde, LXIII (1919), II A, 272–73.
WienÖNB, lists. Published posthumously as Constitutiones epidemicae et morbi potissimum Lugduni-Batavorum observati, ed. Maximilian Stoll (2 vols., Vienna and Leipzig, 1782). See also the article by J. J. van der Kleij on this in Nederlandsch tijdschrii t voor geneeskunde, LXV (1921), II A, 33–39.
WienÖNB, 11193. The experiments fall between 1732 and 1745, but there is one ad-ditional for 1758.
Letters, July 31, 1741 (AmstUB, H. S. E. f. 176), and July 27, 1743 (AmstUB, H. S. E. £ 177).
WienÖNB, 11467. First published in Paris, 1688. Lamy (1640–1715), according to the Nouvelle biographie générale (Paris, 1862), Vol. XXIX, col. 294–98, was a prolific writer on literary, philosophical, religious, and scientific subjects. As an Oratorian and Cartesian he became involved in a struggle against the orthodox faculty of the University of Angers.
Published in Leiden, 1723. WienONB, 11219 Valliant (1669–1722) was director of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris (according to Analecta Boerhaaviana, V, 411–12) and arranged
Académie... Paris, Histoire, 5772:1, p. 116; Müller, p. 36; Wurzbach, XLI, p. 39; Van Heuveln, p. 12, dates the invitation 1736. Neither Baldinger nor Louis record it.
Geyl, Netherlands in the seventeenth century, I, 163.
Boxer, p. 286. The standard works on the history of Leiden’s cloth industry are N. W. Posthumus, De geschiedenis van de Leidse lakenindustrie (3 vols., The Hague, 19o8–39); and the same author’s source volumes, Bronnen tot de geschiedenis van de Leidsche textielnijverheid (“Rijks geschiedkundige publicatiën” VIII, XIV, XVIII, XXII, XXXIX, XLIX; 6 vols., The Hague, 1910–22).
Blok, III, 7; J.A. Faber and others, “Population changes and economic developments in the Netherlands: a historical survey,” A.A.G. bydragen, XII (1965) 47–153, discusses the general population growth rate, 1500–1795.
Quoted by Geyl, Revolt of the Netherlands, p. 4.4..
John Evelyn, Diary (6 vols., Oxford, 1955), II, 39 (August 13–16, 1641).
Complete letters, ed. Robert Halsband (2 vols., Oxford, 1965–66), I, 249–50.
Les delices de Leide (Leiden, 2722), p. 1.
Ibid, p. 24.
Boswell in Holland, 1763–1764, ed. F. A. Pottle (London, 1952), p. 280–81.
For the north Netherlanders publishing and bookselling were as favorite occupations as trading with the Indies or Spain. Leiden was full of bookshops and printers; and if Boerhaave praised a book in the morning it was sold out by the afternoon, said Haller.179John Evelyn had visited Elzevier’s shop “renown’d for the politenesse of the Charac-ter & Editions of what he has publish’d through Europ” in 1641.179 Pieter van der Aa (1679–1733), the publisher of Les delices de Leide in
Politics was the concern of the Regent class — prestigous but less wealthy than the great merchant class.
The letters of the father, Pieter de la Court (1618–85), give a good view of Leiden in the previous century; see J. H. Kernkamp, “Brieven uit de correspondentie van Pieter de la Court en zijn verwanten (i661–1666),” Verslag van de algemene vergadering van het Historisch Genootschap gehouden te Utrecht op 31Oktober 1955 en 2 November 5957... met Bijdragen en mede- delingen van het Historisch Genootschap, LXX (1956), 82–165, and LXXII (1958), 3–195. On the son, Pieter de la Court van der Voort (1664–1739), see L. A. Driessen, “Pieter de la Court van der Voort, millionnair en dilettant-tuinarchitect, 1664–1739,” Leids jaarboekje, XXXVII (1945), 152–64; and J. C. Overvoorde, “De collectie De la Court,” Leids jaarboekje, V (1908), 154–76. Leiden’s riches, reflecting the prosperity of the “Golden Age,” are presently on display in the city’s several museums: the National Museum of Antiquities with a rich collection of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman items; the National Museum of Ethnology con-taining outstanding exhibits of oriental, African, and American objects; the Museum of the History of Science; and the Lakenhal, the City Museum, for arts.
Les delices de Leide, p. 186; see also Oerle cited in note 12 above.
Haller, pp. 35–36.
Ibid, p. 44.
Diary, II, 52 (August 28, 1641).
Boxer, p. 185.
Ibid, pp. 185–86. The common-sense philosophy of the Dutch in the eighteenth century, according to Sassen, p. 220, produced a voluminous quantity of books and periodi-cals most of which had little intrinsic value.
Nederland’s beschaving in de zeventiende eeuw (3 druk, Haarlem, 1963), pp. 155–61.
Boxer, pp. 268–94.
E. H. Kossmann, “The Dutch Republic,” chap. XII in The new Cambridge modern history (Cambridge, 1961), V, 300.
Presently in a suspended state of ruin and restoration, the Burcht is now both a tourist attraction and archeological site. The slopes of the hill were once a park that supported a variety of fruit trees, stags, hinds, and peacocks and during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the plateau circle contained a hedge maze which especially delighted children; credulous strangers, after having refreshed themselves with a glass of beer, were told that the water well was so deep that it had a connection with the North Sea through which a duck could easily swim (see Les delices de Leide, pp. 164–71; A. Bicker Caarten, “Een bezoek aan Leiden in 1697,” Leids jaarboekje, XXXIX (1947), log-10; and Haller, pp. 46–48). The
HagAR, Ordinaris 743o (Brussel 174.4.). The secret correspondence of Kinschot for the remainder of the year (HagAR, Secrete 7457 [Brussel 1731–47D)ends on September 24, 1744 and does not, therefore, yield any further details for that year than does the ordinary.
Ibid, Kinschot on October 8. The date was not November 5 as given by G. A. Lindeboom, “Gerard van Swieten als hervormer der Weense medische faculteit,” Nederlandsch tijdschrift voor geneeskunde, XCIV (May 6, 195o), 1278.
Cf. also the report from Burmania at Vienna, dated October 21, 1744, in HagAR, Ordinaris 6418 (Duitsland Nov.-Dec. 1744).
WienHHSA, Marianne Reports: Königsegg to Francis, November 13, 1744.
Ibid, Königsegg to Francis, November 26, 1744; cf. HagAR, Ordinaris 7430 (Brussel 1744), Kinschot on November 19.
HagAR, Secrete 6606 (Duitsland 1744) : December Is, 1744.
WienHHSA, Marianne Reports: Königsegg to Francis, December 16, 1744; and Kaunitz to Francis, December 16, 1744. Cf. also HagAR, Ordinaris 7430(Brussel 1744), Travest on December 17. Thus, December 12, given by Lindeboom, Nederlandsch tijdschrift voor geneeskunde, XCIV, 1278, and December 17, given by Moffat, p. 152, are incorrect.
HagAR, Ordinaris 6419 (Duitsland Jan.-Mar. 1745).
Ibid.: February 2 and March 8, 1745.
HagAR, Secrete 6607 (Duitsland 1745) : December 30, 1744.
Boerhaave’s aphorisms (Delacoste’s numbering 1328–1345 but Van Swieten’s 1322–1339), PP. 362–64.
Volume IV of his Commentaria was published in 1764.
WienHHSA, Marianne Reports: Engel to Francis, beginning November 17, 1744. Also the reports of Lebzelter (technically the best) beginning October 23, of Van Swieten, and the joint reports of the several other attending physicians.
Alfred von Arneth, Geschichte Maria Theresia’s (Io vols., Vienna, 1863–79), II, 565; trans. Moffat, p. 152.
WienHHSA, Marianne Reports: Kaunitz to Francis, November 11, 1744.
WienÖNB, 11169; this has been published in Analecta Boerhaaviana, ed. G. A. Linde-boom (Leiden, 1964), Vol. V (that is, Boerhaave to Bassand).
WienöNB, 12713, fols. 115–16, Van Swieten to Sanchez, April 8, 1743
Alfred von Arneth, “Biographie des Fürsten Kaunitz; ein Fragment,” Archiv für öster-reichische Geschichte, LXXXVIII (1900), 17–21. Moffat, p. 225, claims he received a doctorate in law from Leiden, but a careful check of both the Album studiosorum and the Catalogus promotorum (in Molhuysen, Bronnen) proves there is no basis for this statement.
Tos WienHHSA, Marianne Reports: Kaunitz to Francis, October 20, 1744.
Ibid.: Kaunitz to U1feld, November 6, 174.4..
Ibid.: Königsegg to Francis, November 9, 1744. Cf. also Königsegg to Ulfeld, November 6, in Arneth, Archiv für österreichische Geschichte, LXXXVIII, 72–73, note 2.
WienHHSA, Marianne Reports: Kaunitz to Francis, November I I, 1744.
Kaunitz to Silva-Tarouca, December 4174.4., in Arneth, Archiv für österreichische Ge-schichte, LXXXVIII, 74 note 3.
Arneth, Geschichte Maria Theresia’s, II, 565; trans., in part, by Moffat, p. 151.
Maria Theresa to Kaunitz, November 3? 1744, in Arneth, Archiv für österreichische Geschichte, LXXXVIII, 70, note 1.
Francis to Kaunitz, November 3, 1744, ibid, p. 71, noter.
WienHHSA, Marianne Reports, November 17, 22, and 30, 1744.
Ibid.: Königsegg to Francis, November 26, 29, and December 17/18, 1744; Königsegg to Ulfeld, December 17/18, 1744.
Ibid.: Kaunitz to Francis, November 17, 1744.
Ibid.: Belrupt to Francis, November 19, 1744. Maria Theresa was quite aware of Belrupt’s “aversion” to Engel (see her November 3 letter to Kaunitz cited above, note 212).
Ibid.: Thoumin to Francis, January 5,1745.
Ibid.: Königsegg to Engel, January 12, 1745.
WienHHSA, OMeA, 36, petition of Johann Wolik, May 26, 1745.
HagAR, Ordinaris 7430 (Brussel 1744),November 23.
Van Swieten left Leiden in May226 and, according to his biographers, arrived in Vienna on June 7, 1745.227
WienHHSA, Marianne Reports, Königsegg to Ulfeld, night of December 17/18,5744.
R. Bijlsma, “Roomschgezinde Hollandsche geslachten (Vos, Hem-van der Hem) in betrekking met den Keizer,” Maandblad van het Genealogisch-Heraldisch Genootschap: “De Neder-landscheLeeuw,” LI (1933), cols. ,10–12.
Naamwyzer.. (Leiden, 1745), p. 32; WienÖNB,12713, fols. 122–23.
Académie... Paris, Histoire, 1772:1, p. 118; Müller, p. 8; Wurzbach, p. 39.
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Brechka, F.T. (1970). Leiden. In: Gerard Van Swieten and His World 1700–1772. Archives Internationales D’Histoire Des Idées/International Archives of the History of Ideas, vol 36. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-3223-0_3
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