Pseudodoxia Epidemica
Sir Thomas Browne's vast work refuting the common errors and superstitions of his age Pseudodoxia Epidemica first appeared in 1646 and went through six editions, the last revision occurring in 1672. Also known as Vulgar Errors derived from its full title, Pseudodoxia Epidemica or Enquries into very many received tenets and commonly presumed truths, Browne's encyclopaedia contains evidence of his adherence to the Baconian method of empirical observation of nature and her properties . Many pages of Pseudodoxia are besides being evidence of Browne's empirical, first-hand investgation of nature also evidence of his early formulation and usage of scientific hypothesis. The three determintors of truth for Browne were the authority of past authors, the act of reason and first-hand experience, each of these determinators are employed by him in his search for truth, upon subjects of both a metaphysical and trivial nature.Although often overlooked as an example of the genre of encyclopaedia the preface to Enquiries into presumed Truths specifically employs the word encyclopaedia
and therefore in this Encyclopaedie and round of knowledge, like the two great and exemplary wheeles of heaven, we must observe two circles.
Ranging through from the cause of error (in Browne's Christian theology Satan the father of lies is the cause of all error along with Man's own fallen nature), to the time-honoured scale of creation, the learned doctor attempts to dispel errors and fallacies concerning the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms before refuting errors pictorial, of man, geography , astronomy and finally the cosmos.
Pseudodoxia Epidemica is sometimes today ridiculed for its own errors, often by those who have not perused its pages, nevertheless it was a valuable source of information which found itself upon the shelves of many English familes throughout the seventeenth century. In fact Browne's encyclopaedic work was in its day in the vanguard of scientific writing and paved the way for all future popular scientific journalism. Its popularity is confirmed by the fact that it went through no less than six editions; the first edition appearing upon the eve of Civil War, under the reign of Charles I in 1646 , no less than four editions were printed of it, during an era of printing press liberalisation and social unrest during the Commonwealth era of Cromwell in 1650, twice 1658, and in 1659, one final edition appearing in (1672) during the reign of King Charles II when the English scientific revolution was well in progress, culminating in Newton's discoveries.
Throughout this vast work Browne's prodigous learning is evident. His sources include both the ancients Greekss as well as the latest available writing in scientific spheres . Throughout its pages alongside its early usage of hypothesis and Baconian investigation Browne's subtle humour can be detected.
An early chapter includes Browne's experiments with static electricity and magnetism (the word electricity being one of many neologisms along with words such as medical, pathology, hallucination, literary, and computer which Browne's vigorous inventiveness of scientific words introduced into the English language.
Today there is considerable confusion as to how best define Sir Thomas Browne's scientific credentials, summarised by one critic thus-
The electicism so characteristic of Browne...Browne does not cry from the house tops, as did Francis Bacon, the liberating power of experience in opposition to the sterilizing influence of reason. Nor does he guarantee as did Descartes, the intuitive truth of reason as opposed to the falsity of the senses. Unlike either, he follows both sense experience and a priori, reason in his quest for truth. He uses what comes to him from tradition and from contemporary Science, often perhaps without too precise a formulation. -E.S.Merton
Another useful description of the ambiguities of Browne's scientific view-point is encapsulated in the following quotation-
Here is Browne's scientific point of view in a nutshell. One lobe of his brain wants to study facts and test hypotheses on the basis of them, the other is fascinated by mystic symbols and analogies.
As early as 1925 the author Robert Sencourt accurately concluded that-
his is an instance of a scientific reason, lit up by mysticism, in the Church of England.
Source
A detailed edition of Pseudodoxia Epidemica in 2 volumes was published by Oxford University Press and edited by H. Robbins in 1986.