Article ID: CBB000775171

Romancing the Salve: Sir Kenelm Digby and the Powder of Sympathy (2008)

unapi

Sir Kenelm Digby's A Late Discourse … Touching the Cure of Wounds by the Powder of Sympathy (1658) is usually read in the context of seventeenth-century explanations of the weapon-salve. The salve supposedly worked by being applied to the weapon that made a wound rather than to the wound itself. But Digby's essay was as much an effort to claim priority for a powdered version of the sympathetic cure as an explanation of how the cure worked. A close examination of Digby's claims in the Late Discourse in the context of his own earlier work and of works by his contemporaries shows his priority claim to have been false. It was recognized as such by his most knowledgeable associates. The story of Digby's fabrications offers a case study of the generic and rhetorical terms in which seventeenth-century English thinkers made and challenged natural-philosophical claims.

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Authors & Contributors
Rider, Catherine
Begley, Justin
Pierroberto Scaramella
Fughelli, Patrizia
Ziller Camenietzki, Carlos
Solís, Carlos
Concepts
Occult sciences
Magic
Medicine
Alchemy
Science and religion
Witchcraft; demonology
Time Periods
17th century
16th century
Medieval
Early modern
Renaissance
Ancient
Places
England
Italy
Europe
Great Britain
Madrid (Spain)
Naples (Italy)
Institutions
University of Nottingham
Jesuits (Society of Jesus)
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