Is it only me? I think I lost the ability to read cursive handwriting. I tried reading a few pages, and it is really hard for me to follow what is written.
Digitized minutes of Royal Society meetings taken between 1686 and 1711
11–20 of 45 posts
Re: Digitized minutes of Royal Society meetings taken between 1686 and 1711
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well? Did you find any references to experiments involving psychoactive drugs?
Tons! Some examples show up in my dissertation, which is available here [1]. Best way to find them is to search "royal society" in the PDF. One of the more interesting examples is Robert Boyle's list of "desiderata" for future scientific discoveries which includes entries like "Potent Druggs to alter or Exalt Imagination, Waking, Memory, and other functions, and appease pain, procure innocent sleep, harmless dreams"…
It looks like coffee houses became a thing around this time. [1]
I also like that that is basically a list of what we want from drugs today, other than curing disease. (would the concept of taking a pill to cure something have existed then???)
[1] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/unite...
Re: Digitized minutes of Royal Society meetings taken between 1686 and 1711
#13Re: Digitized minutes of Royal Society meetings taken between 1686 and 1711
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tons! Some examples show up in my dissertation, which is available here [1]. Best way to find them is to search "royal society" in the PDF. One of the more interesting examples is Robert Boyle's list of "desiderata" for future scientific discoveries which includes entries like "Potent Druggs to alter or Exalt Imagination, Waking, Memory, and other functions, and appease pain, procure innocent sleep, harmless dreams"…
I find it interesting, the reference to tea, rather than coffee as a stimulant. It looks like coffee houses became a thing around this time. [1] I also like that that is basically a list of what we want from drugs today, other than curing disease. (would the concept of taking a pill to cure something have existed then???) [1] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/unite...
The idea of taking a pill to cure a disease did exist; it would’ve been called a “specific.” Pills were handmade but were fairly common based on what I’ve seen, although cordials, electuaries, and other drinkables predominated.
Re: Digitized minutes of Royal Society meetings taken between 1686 and 1711
#15Is there a version that lets you look at the pages without forcing you to use that disastrously slow Turning the Pages application? The page turning animates like a tortoise crawling through molasses under a strobe light.
Re: Digitized minutes of Royal Society meetings taken between 1686 and 1711
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
I find it interesting, the reference to tea, rather than coffee as a stimulant. It looks like coffee houses became a thing around this time. [1] I also like that that is basically a list of what we want from drugs today, other than curing disease. (would the concept of taking a pill to cure something have existed then???) [1] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/unite...
Coffee houses existed at that time but coffee itself was not thought of in quite the same way as today. It wasn’t taken for granted that it was a harmless stimulant, or even a stimulant at all. The idea of taking a pill to cure a disease did exist; it would’ve been called a “specific.” Pills were handmade but were fairly common based on what I’ve seen, although cordials, electuaries, and other drinkables predominated…
"or even a stimulant at all"
Its strange that tea was thought of as a stimulant but not coffee?! I could drink 10 cups of tea, and only feel the urge to wee. That much coffee and I'd be up the wall!
But then the Victorians were shooting up opiates whilst warning of the dangers of alcohol so I suppose there is a lot of 'cultural conditioning' going on there (and here).
Re: Digitized minutes of Royal Society meetings taken between 1686 and 1711
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well? Did you find any references to experiments involving psychoactive drugs?
Tons! Some examples show up in my dissertation, which is available here [1]. Best way to find them is to search "royal society" in the PDF. One of the more interesting examples is Robert Boyle's list of "desiderata" for future scientific discoveries which includes entries like "Potent Druggs to alter or Exalt Imagination, Waking, Memory, and other functions, and appease pain, procure innocent sleep, harmless dreams"…
Re: Digitized minutes of Royal Society meetings taken between 1686 and 1711
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well? Did you find any references to experiments involving psychoactive drugs?
Tons! Some examples show up in my dissertation, which is available here [1]. Best way to find them is to search "royal society" in the PDF. One of the more interesting examples is Robert Boyle's list of "desiderata" for future scientific discoveries which includes entries like "Potent Druggs to alter or Exalt Imagination, Waking, Memory, and other functions, and appease pain, procure innocent sleep, harmless dreams"…
Re: Digitized minutes of Royal Society meetings taken between 1686 and 1711
#19Is there a version that lets you look at the pages without forcing you to use that disastrously slow Turning the Pages application? The page turning animates like a tortoise crawling through molasses under a strobe light.
I can't zoom in enough and when I do zoom in I can't pan around when the page doesn't fit my browser window. Both left and right click turn the page.
Aaaargh...!
Whom ever is behind this, can we just have images please? Thank you.
Re: Digitized minutes of Royal Society meetings taken between 1686 and 1711
#20Is it only me? I think I lost the ability to read cursive handwriting. I tried reading a few pages, and it is really hard for me to follow what is written.