Many, Many Experiments
Many, Many Experiments
In the mid-seventeenth century, experiments on snake venom were conducted within the larger contexts of discussions about body functions and the nature of disease; about blood, its role in the body, and its circulation; about nerve function and the theory of animal spirits; about chemical and mechanical philosophy; about iatrochemistry; and about the analogy between the actions of poisons and the actions of specific medicines. Francesco Redi’s extended studies of viper venom showed that a substance was responsible for the adverse effects of the bite—namely, the “yellow liquor” that was discharged from the viper’s teeth. Taken by mouth, this substance was innocent. Put in wounds, it was fatal to humans and animals. Moyse Charas, his French adversary, turned against Redi and argued that the rage of the viper was responsible for the fatal effects. These writings on venom exemplify how more concrete methodological views and conceptions of experimentation were integrated in experimental reports to establish proper procedure. Two experimental strategies stand out: comparisons and repetitions. The chapter argues that repetitions, not comparisons, were the new feature in Redi’s experimental project.
Keywords: snake venom, methods discourse, experimentalism, experimental reports, repetition, Francesco Redi, Moyse Charas
Chicago Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
