Tag Archives: 17th Century

2001: Nothing But Black Space

Posted on July 22, 2018 by corvusfugit

In a 2001 study, Tim and Virginia Kasser analyzed the dreams of people who had been assessed as either highly materialistic or non-materialistic. They asked the participants to share “the two most meaningful, memorable, or powerful dreams they remembered in … Continue reading →

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1660: Theory

Posted on June 3, 2018 by corvusfugit

The 17th century Dutch minister Johan Picard spent several years in Drenthe, where he became interested in the ancient stone structures that could still be seen in the area.  His research eventually led to the publication of his book A … Continue reading →

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1620: History of Rainbows

Posted on June 2, 2018 by corvusfugit

The 1620 edition of Francis Bacon’s Novum Organum contains a plan for a collective work containing all world knowledge “made to the scale of the universe”: For the world is not to be circumscribed within the narrow confines of the … Continue reading →

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1690: Dance of the Rats

Posted on May 15, 2018 by corvusfugit

Ferdinand Van Kessel: The Dance of the Rats (1690)

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340 AD: Patron Saint of Beekeepers

Posted on April 13, 2018 by corvusfugit

According to tradition, a swarm of bees settled on the face of the infant St. Ambrose, leaving a drop of honey and thus foretelling the saint’s eloquence—his honeyed tongue. He is the patron saint of bees and beekeepers. A certain … Continue reading →

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1661: Elizabeth Russell

Posted on April 13, 2018 by corvusfugit

[———–] Russell, always known under the guise or habit of a woman, and answered to the name of Elizabeth, as registered in Streatham parish, Nov. 21, 1661, but at death proved to be a man. He was buried April 14th, … Continue reading →

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1617: Atalanta Fugiens

Posted on March 25, 2018 by corvusfugit

Michael Maier’s Atalanta Fugiens is an alchemical “emblem book” consisting of 50 illustrations by Matthias Merian, each of which is accompanied by a epigrammatic verse, a philosophical discourse, and a musical fugue. This first emblem shows Boreas, the North Wind, … Continue reading →

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1939: The History of Spitting

Posted on March 3, 2018 by corvusfugit

The pioneering sociologist Norbert Elias published The Civilizing Process in 1939 with the aim of tracing how Europeans came to imagine what it meant to be “civilized.” In the book, he argues that increasing interdependence in society—in which difference social … Continue reading →

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1647: The Rich Man Being Led to Hell

Posted on February 25, 2018 by corvusfugit

David Teniers the Younger: The Rich Man Being Led to Hell (c 1647) There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, … Continue reading →

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1670: A Very Strange and Prodigious Wonder

Posted on February 21, 2018 by corvusfugit

A letter from John Winthrop, Jr. to Lord Brereton, October 11, 1670: Boston Oct. 11, 1670. My Lord: The relation which I am now presenting to your Lordship is of a very strange and prodigious wonder this last Summer in … Continue reading →

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