omslag Newton.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 14:45 | Pag. 1 The Dutch Republic proved ‘A new light on several Newton to be extremely receptive to major figures involved in the groundbreaking ideas of the reception of Newton’s Isaac Newton (1643–1727). work.’ Dutch scholars such as Willem and the Netherlands Jacob ’s Gravesande and Petrus Prof. Bert Theunissen, van Musschenbroek played a Utrecht University N How Isaac Newton was Fashioned crucial role in the adaption and e dissemination of Newton’s work, w in the Dutch Republic ‘This book provides an not only in the Netherlands t important contribution to but also in the rest of Europe. o EDITED BY ERIC JORINK n In the course of the eighteenth the study of the European AND AD MAAS a century, Newton’s ideas (in Enlightenment with new n different guises and interpre- insights in the circulation d tations) became a veritable of knowledge.’ t hype in Dutch society. In Newton h and the Netherlands Newton’s Prof. Frans van Lunteren, e sudden success is analyzed in Leiden University N great depth and put into a new e t perspective. h e Ad Maas is curator at the Museum r l Boerhaave, Leiden, the Netherlands. a n Eric Jorink is researcher at the Huygens d Institute for Netherlands History s (Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences). J O R IN K / M www.lup.nl A A S ( E D S ) LUP Newton and the Netherlands.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 16:47 | Pag. 1 Newton and the Netherlands Newton and the Netherlands.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 16:47 | Pag. 2 Newton and the Netherlands.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 16:47 | Pag. 3 Newton and the Netherlands How Isaac Newton was Fashioned in the Dutch Republic Edited by Eric Jorink and Ad Maas Leiden University Press Newton and the Netherlands.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 16:47 | Pag. 4 The publication of this book is made possible by a grant from Museum Boerhaave. Cover illustration: Britannia between Newton and W.J. ’s Gravesande, Oil painting by G.M. de Boni, 1787 (courtesy Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome) Cover design and lay-out: Sander Pinkse Boekproductie, Amsterdam isbn 978 90 8728 137 3 e-isbn 978 94 0060 055 3 (pdf) e-isbn 978 94 0060 123 9 (ePub) nur 680 / 924 © E. Jorink, A. Maas / Leiden University Press, Amsterdam 2012 All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or other- wise) without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book. Every effort has been made to obtain permission to use all copyright- ed illustrations reproduced in this book. Nonetheless, whosoever believes to have rights to this material is advised to contact the pub- lisher. Newton and the Netherlands.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 16:47 | Pag. 5 Contents Introduction 7 Eric Jorink and Ad Maas ‘The Miracle of Our Time’ 13 How Isaac Newton was fashioned in the Netherlands Eric Jorink and Huib Zuidervaart Servant of Two Masters 67 Fatio de Duillier between Christiaan Huygens and Isaac Newton Rob Iliffe How Newtonian Was Herman Boerhaave? 93 Rina Knoeff The Man Who Erased Himself 113 Willem Jacob ’s Gravesande and the Enlightenment Ad Maas ‘The Wisest Man to Whom this Earth Has as Yet Given Birth’ 139 Petrus van Musschenbroek and the limits of Newtonian natural philosophy Kees de Pater Newton and the Netherlands.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 16:47 | Pag. 6 Low Country Opticks 159 The optical pursuits of Lambert ten Kate and Daniel Fahrenheit in early Dutch ‘Newtonianism’ Fokko Jan Dijksterhuis Defining the Supernatural 185 The Dutch Newtonians, the Bible and the Laws of Nature Rienk Vermij Anti-Newtonianism and Radical Enlightenment 207 Jordy Geerlings Newtonianism at the Dutch Universities during the Enlightenment 227 The teaching of ‘philosophy’ from ’s Gravesande to Van Swinden Henri Krop Authors 250 Index 253 Newton and the Netherlands.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 16:47 | Pag. 7 Introduction ERIC JORINK AND AD MAAS The Dutch Republic is known as an early adopter of Isaac Newton’s 7 natural philosophy. In fact, Newton’s success on the Continent was IN largely effected by Dutch scholars who supported his work at an early T R O stage. This volume, Newton and the Netherlands, is largely devoted to D U the perception of Newton’s ideas in the Dutch Republic, as well as the CT IO fashioning of the man himself, from the publication of his magnum N opus Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica in 1687, until the end of the eighteenth century. Despite the importance of the Dutch Republic in the history of Newtonianism, surprisingly little research has been done in this field. For most historians the sudden popularity of Newtonianism in the Dutch Republic has been a historical fact requiring no explanation. The introduction of Newtonianism to the Netherlands in 1715 is usual- ly considered the logical next step towards modern science: from Aris- totelianism, via Cartesianism towards Newtonianism. Seen from this perspective, the appearance of Newtonian physics in the academic curriculum in 1715–1717 was inevitable, as was the increasing popular- ity of the man himself. The eighteenth century in the Dutch Repub- lic was, as in England, the age of Newton. Eulogies of ‘this miracle of our age’ are found not only in scientific texts, but also in sermons and poetry. In this volume, which is the result of an international conference held in Museum Boerhaave, Leiden, 20–22 April 2010,1 we would like to draw attention to certain conceptual and contextual problems, and to highlight a number of protagonists and underlying patterns rele- Newton and the Netherlands.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 16:47 | Pag. 8 vant to Newton’s success. Drawing on the recent trend in the history of science for concepts such as the ‘circulation of knowledge’, and the focus on the processes of reception, adaptation and dissemination, we will argue that ‘Newtonianism’ in the Dutch context was not a sta- ble, coherent system, originating in Britain and waiting to be imple- mented on the Continent, but a philosophical construction, adapted to local problems and circumstances. The dissemination of Newton was a many-sided and complex process, in which natural philosophy, religious and cultural factors, propaganda and practical concerns, and personal benefits, fears and preferences interacted in a fascinating manner. As this book shows, the ‘Newtonianism’ constructed by Dutch natu- ral philosophers appears to be anything but a fixed and clearly defined set of scientific concepts. Many scholars who have been labeled 8 straightforwardly as ‘Newtonians’, in practice did not embrace New- ton’s natural philosophy completely. Actually, the Dutch ‘Newtonians’ S D mostly used Newton’s ideas in a selective or even defective manner, N A L and were far from dogmatic in their adherence to his work. Moreo ver, R E H what was understood by ‘Newtonianism’ changed in the course of T E N time. Studying Newtonianism, therefore, is like looking at Dutch fog: E TH it is omnipresent, but intangible as well, it often conceals more than D N it reveals and at short distances it seems to disappear altogether. It is A N no surprise that many of the authors in this book are intrigued by the O T W ‘foggy’, intangible character of Dutch Newtonianism. E N In the first chapter Eric Jorink and Huib Zuidervaart present an overview of the colorful rise of Dutch ‘Newtonianism’, and the way the man himself was put on the map, as well as on the market. As they show, Dutch ‘Newtonianism’ was a label, an intellectual construction, to a large extent molded by an already existing tradition of empirical research and by a Protestant natural theology which gave the study of nature a strong religious connotation. Newton’s natural philosophy was adopted to solve pressing religious and philosophical concerns of Dutch culture, particularly as an antidote to the ‘blasphemous’ ideas of Spinoza. In the second half of the eighteenth century an increasing terminological vagueness became apparent. ‘Newtonianism’ became interchangeable with experimental philosophy, ‘physico-theology’ and natural theology, all of which roughly described the same set of ideas, values and practices. As their research suggests, the sudden success of Newton in the Dutch Republic after the publication of the Newton and the Netherlands.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 16:47 | Pag. 9 second edition of the Principia in 1713, and the subsequent pirated Amsterdam edition, could be seen as the result of a conscious strategy of philosophers and publishers. A particularly penetrating insight into the selective way in which Newton’s ideas were adopted is provided by Fokko Jan Dijksterhuis in chapter 6. His study focusses on the Opticks, Newton’s book about his optical experiments and views (first published in 1704). The reception in the United Provinces of this book, which, unlike the Princi pia, has little to say on worldviews and religion, provides a revealing look into the practical use of Newton’s work. The polymath Lambert ten Kate and the instrument maker and lecturer Daniel Fahrenheit, two well- known ‘Newtonians’ who became familiar with the Opticks, largely ignored Newton’s central claims and freely picked out the elements they could use. For Fahrenheit the Opticks proved useful for his pur- suits in telescope making, while Ten Kate even aimed to correct some 9 elements of Newton’s optics with his own experiments, because they IN did not fit his own theories. Both were largely indifferent to Newton’s T R O natural philosophical system. How ‘Newtonian’, then, were these D U scholars actually? Dijksterhuis ends his article by calling into question CT IO the usefulness of the term ‘Newtonianism’, which he considerers ‘too N ambiguous, to illuminate historical developments’. ‘To put it briefly’, he concludes, ‘“Newtonianism” is not a fruitful category for doing his- tory of science’. Another chapter that discusses the nature of Dutch ‘Newtonianism’ is the analysis of its intellectual dimension by Rienk Vermij (chapter 7). While emphasizing the heterogeneous character of the Dutch Newto- nians, Vermij identifies a common project, namely ‘defining the rela- tion between God and nature in a way which answered both scientific and religious demands’. This ‘project’ had an important impact on the interpretation and perception of Newton’s ideas by Dutch scholars. While in the seventeenth century nature was increasingly consid- ered in terms and concepts adapted from natural philosophy and geometry, there was some unease about its consequences for tradi- tional religious views. The presumption that the universe was direct- ed by a set of eternal and immutable laws of nature could lead to a deterministic worldview in which God’s role was marginalized. What was ultimately at stake, Vermij argues, were not philosophical matters as such, but the authority of the Bible. How could the supernatural events of the Scripture be brought in accordance with new scientific