'A thing ridiculous'? Chemical medicines and the prolongation of human life in seventeenth-century England

Sir Francis Bacon explored as a medical question the issue of how human life spans might be returned to the near-thousand years enjoyed by Adam and the Patriarchs. Extended old age seemed feasible: reports told of people living well into their centenary. Meanwhile, New World natives were said to live for several hundred years. The boundaries of old age in the seventeenth century were inconclusive, and the hope that life could be prolonged for decades beyond the allotted eighty years was a serious question. In 1633, one doctor observed that to “attaine to 100 is no wonder, having my selfe knowne some of both sexes”, but responding to the claims of Paracelsians asked, “is it not a thing ridiculous, now in these later times, to extend the life of man-kinde to 1000, 900, or at the least to 600 yeeres?” Comparing the reception of information extrapolated from Biblical sources, stories from distant lands, and the growing divide between philosophical and medico-scientific approaches, this paper looks at how “facts” about human longevity were received and employed by scholars and doctors during the course of the seventeenth century, and the emergence of a more “respectable” empirical chemistry from under the shade of alchemy

William Stukeley: science, archaeology and religion in eighteenth-century England

Dr William Stukeley (1687-1765) was the most renowned English antiquary of the eighteenth century. This study discusses his life and achievements, placing him firmly within his intellectual milieu, which he shared with his illustrious friend Isaac Newton and with other natural philosophers, theologians and historians. Stukeley's greatest memorial was his work on the stone circles of Stonehenge and Avebury: at a time when most historians believed they were Roman or medieval monuments, he proved that they were of much greater antiquity, and his influence on subsequent interpretations of these monuments and their builders was enormous. For Stukeley, these stone circles - the work of 'Celtic Druids', were a link in the chain that connected the pristine religion of Adam and Noah with the modern Anglican Church. Historians today belittle such speculations, but Stukeley shared his vision of lost religious and scientific knowledge with many of the great minds of his day; this account shows how throughout his distinguished career his antiquarian researches fortified his response to Enlightenment irreligion and the threat he believed it posed to science and societ

I Am Spain: The Spanish Civil War and the Men and Women Who Went to Fight Fascism

Draws on the letters, diaries, newspaper accounts, and memoirs of foreign writers and artists, including Hemingway, Martha Gellhorn, George Orwell, and Robert Capa, who participated in Spain’s struggle against international fascism. Traces Hemingway’s many visits both prior to and during the war, chronicling his support of the Republic, activities as both war correspondent and writer, and eventual disillusionment with the Communist Party. Contains a chronology of important events related to the Spanish Civil War and a helpful appendix identifying those foreign individuals who either fought or observed and recorded the war. Works discussed include The Spanish Earth, The Fifth Column and the First Forty-nine Stories, To Have and Have Not, and For Whom the Bell Tolls