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Digby, Kenelm

Born: 11 July 1603, Gayhurst, Buckinghamshire

Died: 11 June 1665, Covent Garden

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Abstract

Kenelm Digby was an English courtier, book collector, and natural philosopher, advancing in particular the fields of chemistry and biology. He carried on his service to the state beside his scientific experimentation and a lively involvement in the international intellectual life of his time. Digby is a transitional figure, attempting to synthesize Aristotelian traditions on the body and the soul with modern developments of atomism and mechanical physics. Among his various commentaries and treatises, his “On the body” (published 1644), especially the pioneering chapters on embryology, was most influential.

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References

Primary Literature

  • 1661. A discourse concerning the vegetation of plants. London.

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  • George Hartmann. 1682. A choice collection of rare secrets. London.

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  • 1868. Journal of a voyage into the Mediterranean, ed. John Bruce. London.

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  • 1827. Private memoirs of Sir Kenelm Digby, gentleman of the bedchamber to King Charles the first, Written by himself. London.

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  • 1645. Two treatises in the one of which the nature of bodies, in the other, the nature of mans soule is looked into in way of discovery of the immortality of reasonable soules. London.

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Secondary Literature

  • Aubrey, John. 1898. In Brief lives, chiefly of contemporaries, set down by John Aubrey, between the years 1669 and 1696, ed. A. Clark, vol. 1. London.

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  • Foster, M. 2009. Digby, Sir Kenelm (1603–1665), natural philosopher and courtier. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Ed.

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  • Fulton, John. 1960. Sir Kenelm Digby, F.R.S. (1603–1665). Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 15: 199–210.

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  • Janacek, Bruce. 2000. Catholic natural philosophy: Alchemy and the revivification of Sir Kenelm Digby. In Rethinking the scientific revolution, ed. Margaret Osler. Cambridge University Press.

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  • Moshenska, Joe. 2016. A stain in the blood: The remarkable voyage of Sir Kenelm Digby. London: Heinemann.

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  • Rubin, Davida. 1991. Sir Kenelm Digby, F.R.S., 1603–1665: A bibliography. San Francisco: Jeremy Norman.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cambridge, UK

    Florence Hazrat

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  1. Florence Hazrat
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Correspondence to Florence Hazrat .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Philosophy a. Cultural Heritage, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia Dept. of Philosophy a. Cultural Heritage, Venezia, Italy

    Marco Sgarbi

Section Editor information

  1. University Ca' Foscari Venice, Venice, Italy

    Marco Sgarbi

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Hazrat, F. (2019). Digby, Kenelm. In: Sgarbi, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_416-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_416-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-02848-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-02848-4

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