George Berkeley's Tar-water Medicine
Abstract In his last major book, Siris (1744), the philosopher George Berkeley proposed tar-water as a universal medicine, suggesting that he had found a panacea. Shortly after its publication, Siris became immensely popular and tar-water spread all around Europe and even reached America. The aim of...
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| Published in | Early science and medicine Vol. 25; no. 2; pp. 173 - 193 |
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| Main Author | |
| Format | Journal Article |
| Language | English |
| Published |
Leiden | Boston
Brill
01.07.2020
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| Online Access | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Abstract
In his last major book, Siris (1744), the philosopher George Berkeley proposed tar-water as a universal medicine, suggesting that he had found a panacea. Shortly after its publication, Siris became immensely popular and tar-water spread all around Europe and even reached America. The aim of this article is to present Berkeley's ideas about tar-water as a medicine with a particular focus on the origins of tar-water in Berkeley's thinking and its alleged medical effects. Berkeley conceived of tar-water as at one end of a chain, with God at the other end. I reconstruct this chain, excluding from the examination the last parts, related to metaphysics and theology. Furthermore, relying on eighteenth-century letters, books and pamphlets, I briefly introduce the conditions leading Berkeley to start experimenting with tar-water as well as the context and the so called "pamphlet war" following the publication of Siris. |
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| ISSN: | 1383-7427 1573-3823 1383-7427 |
| DOI: | 10.1163/15733823-00252P04 |