Pseudodoxia Epidemica

Sir Thomas Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica first appeared in 1646 and went through six editions, the last revision occurring in 1676. The preface to his work refuting common errors and superstitions of his age specifically employs the word encyclopaedia

and therefore in this Encyclopaedie and round of knowledge, like the two great and exemplary wheeles of heaven, we must observe two circles.

Ranging through from the cause of error (in Browne's Christian theology Satan the father of lies is the cause of all error along with Man's own fallen nature), to the time-honoured scale of creation, the learned doctor attempts to dispel errors and fallacies concerning the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms before refuting errors pictorial, of man, geography and astronomy and finally the cosmos.

Although Pseudodoxia has been ridiculed for its own errors, nevertheless it was a valuable source of information which found itself upon the shelves of many English familes throughout the seventeenth century. Its popularity is confirmed by the fact that it went through no less than six editions.

An important chapter includes Browne's experiments with static electricity and magnetism (electricity being one of hundreds of words Browne introduced into the English language, too numerous to mention here, but medical, pathology, hallucination, literary, and computer will do for starters)..

Browne's encyclopaedic work was in its day in the vanguard of scientific writing and it paved the way for all future popular scientific journalism. Although often ridiculed for its own errors, nevertheless Vulgar Errors was a valuable source of information which found itself upon the shelves of many English familes throughout the seventeenth century. Its popularity is confirmed by the fact that it went through no less than six editions.

Throughout this vast work evidence Browne's subtle humour can be detected, reinforced throughout with his prodigous learning (his sources included both the ancients Greekss and the latest available writing in scientific spheres) and also his own adherence to the method of empirical experimentation. In fact throughout the pages of Pseudodoxia Epidemica evidence of Browne's empirical scientific nature and his formulation of scientific hypothesis can be found.

Today there is considerable confusion as to how best define Sir Thomas Browne's scientific credentials,summarised by one critic thus-

'The electicism so characteristic of Browne...Browne does not cry from the house tops, as did Bacon, the liberating power of experience in opposition to the sterilizing influence of reason. Nor does he guarantee as did Descartes, the intuitive truth of reason as opposed to the falsity of the senses. Unlike either, he follows both sense experience and a priori, reason in his quest for truth. He uses what comes to him from tradition and from contemporary Science, often perhaps without too precise a formulation. -E.S.Merton

A useful description of the ambiguities of Browne's scientific view-point is the following-

'Here is Browne's scientific point of view in a nutshell. One lobe of his brain wants to study facts and test hypotheses on the basis of of them, the other is fascinated by mystic symbols and analogies.

As early as 1925 the author Robert Sencourt accurately concluded that-

"his is an instance of a scientific reason, lit up by mysticism, in the Church of England".

Source

A detailed edition of Pseudodoxia Epidemicain two volumes was published by Oxford University Press edited by H. Robbins in 1986.