"
His ascribing belief in this explanatory transformation myth to
the "common people" marks the faint dawn of a new epoch.
Typical also of this new class is the German botanist Leonhard
Rauwolf. He travels through Palestine in 1575, and, though devout
and at times credulous, notes comparatively few of the old wonders,
while he makes thoughtful and careful mention of things in nature
that he really saw; he declines to use the eyes of the monks, and
steadily uses his own to good purpose.
As we go on in the seventeenth century, this current of new thought
is yet more evident; a habit of observing more carefully and of
comparing observations had set in; the great voyages of discovery
by Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Magellan, and others were producing
their effect; and this effect was increased by the inductive
philosophy of Bacon, the reasonings of Descartes, and the
suggestions of Montaigne.
So evident was this current that, as far back as the early days of
the century, a great theologian, Quaresmio of Lodi, had made up his
mind to stop it forever.
Pages:
1118
1119
1120
1121
1122
1123
1124
1125
1126
1127
1128
1129
1130
1131
1132
1133
1134
1135
1136
1137
1138
1139
1140
1141
1142