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ORIGINS OF MODERNITY

natural philosophy

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Harris, John
Lexicon technicum; or, An universal dictionary of arts and sciences, explaining not only the terms of art but the arts themselves.
Two volumes in one.
Second edition
London : Printed for Dan. Brown, Tim. Goodwin, John Walthoe, Tho. Newborough, John Nicholson, Dan. Midwinter, and Francis Coggan, 1708.

Image from Harris' Lexicon technicum

This is a second edition of John Harris's famous Lexicon technicum. A kind of contemporary encyclopedia of recent developments in natural philosophy, mathematics, medicine and even architecture, it provides an invaluable guide to early modern science. Harris famously defines natural philosophy as "… That Science which contemplates Powers of Nature, the Properties of Natural Bodies, and their mutual Action one upon another".

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