Natural Science and Philosophy Treatise
Italy, 1733
 
Paper manuscript in brown ink. 195 x 135 mm., [6], 305, [5]. Latin text with hand drawn diagrams and figures. The author signed the work Antonio Mainenti, a seemingly unknown scholar. Contemporary parchment binding worn, but structurally sound. Internally Fine.
 
The first part examines the Schools of Pythagoras, Thales, Plato, the Skeptics, the Cynics, the Atomists Democritus and Epicurus, and Aristotle. He continues by comparing the theories of Greek philosophers with the 'modern' opinions of Descartes, Torricelli, and Boyle.
 
The second part examines the world’s creation and various astronomical theories: the sky, celestial bodies, the moon, the sun, eclipses, and planetary motion. The geocentric theory is compared with the intuitions of Copernicus and Descartes; the problems of the spherical earth and the antipodes, the physical elements, earth, water, fire and ether, atmospheric pressure (with Torricellian experiments). A rather beautifully drawn comparison of the Ptolemaic, Copernican, and Tychonic astronomical models appears. It continues with meteors and comets, thunder, lightning, shooting stars, winds, clouds, rain, snow, hail, rainbows, seas and tides, and magnetic attraction.
 
The final part addresses topics related to the soul and its immortality, and the mind and spirituality, comparing ancient thought with Descartes' theories.
 
An impressive specimen of philosophical scholarship.
 
(science)