high during this time, since medicine rested mostly in their hands. They kept
monastery gardens with herbal plants, among others, and helped at sickbeds. They
also transcribed and thus preserved and disseminated the few survived Greek and
Roman medical writings with added changes and omissions of some details (Köpp
1980). During the twelfth century, medicine became an academic discipline and thus
one of the four sciences. The medicinal education consisted of verbal advice and
experience, the use of medical methods from classical Greece and knowledge from
Arabian medicine. Didactic graphics, like the “Wundermann”, a Catalogue of
medical theories for the treatment of infirmities, were used. Doctor candidates had
to have a high general education and knowledge of the ethical medical rules of the
Hippocratic tradition. The impact on public health was high. The interest in general
hygiene increased which partly explains why leprosy declined in the fifteenth
century in Europe (Piltz 1982).
2.6 Early Modern Times: Development of Natural Sciences
The Early Modern Age was an epoch with many changes and great discoveries.
Nicolaus Copernicus discovered that the earth circles around the sun. Columbus
discovered America and Fernão de Magalhães was the first to circumnavigate the
world. With the expedition on the Beagle, Charles Darwin laid the foundation for his
evolutionary ideas about the origin of the species. Marco Polo, Carl von Linné,
Alexander von Humboldt, Jean Leopold Nicolas Frederic Cuvier and many others
explored the world using a different and rational understanding of natural sciences.
Whereas in the Middle Ages the natural sciences served to support theology, they
gradually emancipated from the authority of the Church in early modern times.
Science was supposed to be understandable and accessible for everyone, without the
participation of the church. Scholars withdrew from the Church’s authority by
pursuing their research activities in non-university fields. Therefore, the actual
scientific research and thus the practical application of sciences did not take place
at the universities but in private circles, in workshops of artisans, at academies and
princely courts, in private associations, etc. Scientific institutions like the Académie
des Sciences and the Royal Society made new research internationally known
(Thiessen 1985; Varchmin 1985). The publications of scientific journals by these
societies reached the entire educated public (Kearney 1971). In addition, during the
sixteenth and seventeenth century there was a change of how to approach research.
Sometimes this is referred to the revolution of the natural sciences. Starting from the
unquestioned belief in natural conditions of traditional authorities, scholars changed
their approach in developing and testing of preconceptions. The application of
hypotheses, mathematical models and experiments in all fields became a common
procedure (Kearney 1971).
In 1660, the Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge
was founded under the patronage of King Charles II (Crosland 1992; Purver 1967).
Via the Journal of the Royal Society, the Philosophical Transactions, and an
History of Environmental Communication and Education
55
monastery gardens with herbal plants, among others, and helped at sickbeds. They
also transcribed and thus preserved and disseminated the few survived Greek and
Roman medical writings with added changes and omissions of some details (Köpp
1980). During the twelfth century, medicine became an academic discipline and thus
one of the four sciences. The medicinal education consisted of verbal advice and
experience, the use of medical methods from classical Greece and knowledge from
Arabian medicine. Didactic graphics, like the “Wundermann”, a Catalogue of
medical theories for the treatment of infirmities, were used. Doctor candidates had
to have a high general education and knowledge of the ethical medical rules of the
Hippocratic tradition. The impact on public health was high. The interest in general
hygiene increased which partly explains why leprosy declined in the fifteenth
century in Europe (Piltz 1982).
2.6 Early Modern Times: Development of Natural Sciences
The Early Modern Age was an epoch with many changes and great discoveries.
Nicolaus Copernicus discovered that the earth circles around the sun. Columbus
discovered America and Fernão de Magalhães was the first to circumnavigate the
world. With the expedition on the Beagle, Charles Darwin laid the foundation for his
evolutionary ideas about the origin of the species. Marco Polo, Carl von Linné,
Alexander von Humboldt, Jean Leopold Nicolas Frederic Cuvier and many others
explored the world using a different and rational understanding of natural sciences.
Whereas in the Middle Ages the natural sciences served to support theology, they
gradually emancipated from the authority of the Church in early modern times.
Science was supposed to be understandable and accessible for everyone, without the
participation of the church. Scholars withdrew from the Church’s authority by
pursuing their research activities in non-university fields. Therefore, the actual
scientific research and thus the practical application of sciences did not take place
at the universities but in private circles, in workshops of artisans, at academies and
princely courts, in private associations, etc. Scientific institutions like the Académie
des Sciences and the Royal Society made new research internationally known
(Thiessen 1985; Varchmin 1985). The publications of scientific journals by these
societies reached the entire educated public (Kearney 1971). In addition, during the
sixteenth and seventeenth century there was a change of how to approach research.
Sometimes this is referred to the revolution of the natural sciences. Starting from the
unquestioned belief in natural conditions of traditional authorities, scholars changed
their approach in developing and testing of preconceptions. The application of
hypotheses, mathematical models and experiments in all fields became a common
procedure (Kearney 1971).
In 1660, the Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge
was founded under the patronage of King Charles II (Crosland 1992; Purver 1967).
Via the Journal of the Royal Society, the Philosophical Transactions, and an
History of Environmental Communication and Education
55