The Accademia Segreta of Girolamo Ruscelli: A Sixteenth-Century Italian Scientific Society

The Accademia Segreta of Girolamo Ruscelli: A Sixteenth-Century Italian Scientific SocietyAuthor(s): Girolamo Ruscelli, William Eamon and Francoise PaheauSource: Isis, Vol. 75, No. 2 (Jun., 1984), pp. 327-342Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/231830 .

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DOCUMENTS & TRANSLATIONS

The Accademia Segreta of

Girolamo Ruscelli

A Sixteenth-Century Italian Scientific Society

By William Eamon and Franqoise Paheau*

T HE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries depended not only upon the introduction of new ideas, but also upon

the development of new institutions for the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge. The medieval university ceased to be the sole vehicle for the advancement of science, its place giving way to institutions more congenial to the utilitarian and antischolastic outlook of the Renaissance. The most important of these new institutions were the princely court and the informal academy.' As the literati of Europe grew increasingly hostile to Aristotelianism and conven- tional education, they looked for a more satisfactory intellectual environment outside the walls of the university. They sought protection and patronage from rulers who hoped to enhance their own prestige as benefactors of the new learning; and they banded together with individuals of similar interests to set up academies, often under the aegis of princely courts, designed to further experimental research. Such societies, by concentrating scientists in one place, were by the end of the seventeenth century the real loci of scientific activity. They fostered the idea of cooperative scientific effort and became centers for the dissemination of scientific information, whether through informal correspondence, through the sponsorship of scientific publications such as the Saggi di Naturali Esperienze (1667) of the Accademia del Cimento, or through the publication of

* New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico, 88003. We wish to thank Antonio Calabria, Eugenio Frongia, Bert Hansen, and two Isis referees for

comments and suggestions. Our research was supported by the Arts and Sciences Research Center, New Mexico State University.

Two recent studies of scientific patronage in the 16th century are Bruce T. Moran, "Princes, Machines, and the Valuation of Precision in the 16th Century," Sludoffs Archii, 1977, 61:209-228; and Moran, "German Prince-Practitioners: Aspects in the Development of Courtly Science, Tech- nology, and Procedures in the Renaissance," Technology and Cultlure, 1981, 22:253-274. Also valuable is Robert S. Westman, "The Astronomer's Role in the Sixteenth Century: A Preliminary Study," History of Science, 1980, 18:105-147. For Italy, see Luigi Spezzaferro, "La cultura del cardinal Del Monte e il primo tempo del Caravaggio," Storia della letteratura Italiana, Vol. VII, p. I (Milan: Societa tipografica de' classici Italiani, 1824), pp. 20-156.

ISIS, 1984, 75 : 327-342 327



WILLIAM EAMON AND FRANCOISE PAHEAU

regular proceedings like the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.2

Very little is known about the activities of the early scientific societies before the Accademia dei Lincei, which was founded at Rome in 1603 by the youthful Prince Federico Cesi, marquis of Monticello. Giambattista della Porta organized an informal, scientifically oriented academy at his home in Naples in the 1560s. This academy, known as the Accademia dei Segreti, was probably modeled after the numerous literary academies that flourished in sixteenth-century Italy, and it is generally regarded as the first scientific society to have come into existence.3 It now appears that an earlier academy, founded expressly for the purpose of conducting experimental research, was established almost two decades prior to della Porta's group. This was the Accademia Segreta founded in Naples by the humanist Girolamo Ruscelli.4 Whether Ruscelli's academy can claim priority as the first scientific society, however, is of secondary importance to the detailed description that he wrote of this organization. This valuable docu- ment gives us a unique glimpse into the ideals and motives that gave birth to the early Italian scientific societies.

Ruscelli's account is contained in the proem to his Secreti nuovi (1567), one of the many "books of secrets" of the sixteenth century. The academy is not mentioned by Michele Maylender, Camillo Minieri-Riccio, or any of the other historians of the academies nor, apparently, is it known to historians of Ren- aissance science. This is perhaps not surprising, for there seems to be no other reference to the organization besides that contained in Ruscelli's rare work, only two copies of which are known to exist in the United States; in that work, however, Ruscelli claims to have published part of the academy's research earlier, in the well-known Secreti of "Alexis of Piedmont."5 Ruscelli himself is a fairly obscure figure, familiar only to historians of Italian literature (who would not be inclined to examine any of his scientific works), while books of secrets have

2 The major study of the early scientific societies is Martha Ornstein, The Role of Scientific So- cieties in the Seventeenth Century (Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press, 1928); there is a vast literature on individual societies. The most comprehensive study of the Italian academies is Michele May- lender, Storia delle accademie d'Italia, 5 vols. (Bologna: Capelli, 1926-1930). On publications, see W. E. Knowles Middleton, The Experimenters: A Study of the Accademia del Cimento (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1971); Marie Boas Hall, "The Royal Society's Role in the Diffusion of Information in the Seventeenth Century," Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, 1975, 29:173-192; and James G. Paradis, "The Royal Society, Henry Oldenburg, and Some Origins of the Modern Technical Paper," Proceedings of the 28th International Technical Communication Confer- ence, 1981, 28:E82-E86.

3 The activities of the Accademia dei Lincei are amply documented in its letters, edited by Giu- seppe Gabrieli, "I1 carteggio Linceo della vecchio accademici di Federico Cesi (1603-1630)," Atti della Reale Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei memorie della classe di scienze morali, storiche efilo- logiche, series 6, 1925, 1:1-1446; see also Gabrieli, "II 'Liceo' di Napoli," ibid., 1939, 14:499-565; and Stillman Drake, "The Accademia dei Lincei," Science, 1966, 151:1190-1196. For the Secreti, see Mario Gliozzi, "Sulla natura dell' 'Accademia de' Secreti' de Giovan Battista Porta," Archives internationales d'histoire des sciences, 1950, 12:536-541.

4 Although Ruscelli does not specifically so designate the academy, it is clear from the text, published below, that this or something resembling it was the group's name, for he writes in two places that the academy "was kept and called SECRETA"; see note 25.

5 Girolamo Ruscelli, Secreti nuovi di maravigliosa virtli (Venice: Gli heredi Marchi6 Sessa, 1567); copies exist in the Library of Congress and the New York Academy of Medicine (we are grateful to the New York Academy of Medicine for supplying us with a microfilm of this text). John Ferguson does take note of the academy-and of Ruscelli's claim-in "The Secrets of Alexis," Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, Section on the History of Medicine, 1931, 24:225-246.

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GIROLAMO RUSCELLI'S ACCADEMIA SEGRETA

only recently begun to catch the attention of historians of science.6 For these reasons, and because of the intrinsic importance of Ruscelli's description, we have decided to publish the account in full here.

Despite his relative obscurity today, Girolamo Ruscelli was a well-known humanist in the sixteenth century. He was highly praised by contemporaries as a man of immense erudition, and his humanistic writings add substance to these encomiums. Among his works were annotations on Boccaccio and Petrarch, com- mentaries on the Italian language, books on the design of arms and armor, heraldry, militia, the rules of Italian poetry, history, and a translation of Ptol- emy's Geography. He was a tireless editor, compiling dozens of collections of the poems, letters, and orations of Italian men of letters. His admiring friend Francesco Sansovino also tells us that Ruscelli took pleasure in the study of alchemy and the secrets of minerals and medicine, subjects well represented in the Secreti nuovi.7

Very little is known about Ruscelli's life. He was born of humble parents in the city of Viterbo in Tuscany in the early part of the sixteenth century. As a youth he was accepted into the court of Cardinal Marini Grimani at Utini, and there received his early education in the classics. He completed his studies at the University of Padua, after which he followed his patron to Rome. There, according to one of our sources, he formed a literary and humanistic academy called the Accademia dei Sdegnati (the scornful), following the custom of se- lecting humorously derogatory names for such societies.8 One group, for example, called itself the Scomposti (the unseemly); several were named the Con- fusi (the confused); and the very learned Florentine academy which published the first dictionary of vernacular Italian speech was called the Accademia della Crusca, or academy of chaff.9 If Ruscelli was indeed one of the original members of the Sdegnati, this would place him in Rome in 1541 (the year the group was founded). His biographers, however, tell us nothing of his whereabouts between then and 1548, when he was in Venice working as a writer and proofreader in the publishing house of Vincenzo Valgrisi. He remained in Venice, as far as is known, until his death in 1565 or 1566.

The proem to the Secreti nuovi enables us to fill in some of the details of the shadowy years between Ruscelli's stay in Rome and his move to Venice. "A few years" before he moved to Venice, Ruscelli begins, he was in some "famous city" in the Kingdom of Naples, where he helped to organize the academy

6 See John Ferguson, Bibliographical Notes on Histories of Invention and Books of Secrets, 2 vols. (London: Holland Press, 1959); and William Eamon, "Arcana Disclosed: The Advent of Printing, the Books of Secrets Tradition and the Development of Experimental Science in the Six- teenth Century," History of Science, 1984, 22:111-150.

7 Francesco Sansovino, dedication, Secreti nuovi, sig. a2. To form an estimate of the size and range of Ruscelli's published writings, see British Museum, General Catalogue of Printed Books, Vol. 209 (London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1955), cols. 291-296; and the Catalogue general des livres imprimes de la Bibliotheque Nationale, Vol. 99 (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1940), cols. 192-203.

8 Francesco Saverio Quadrio, Della storia e delle ragione d'ogni poesia (1739), quoted in May- lender, Storia delle accademie d'Italia, Vol. V, p. 141. Other biographical data are from the articles on Ruscelli in Biographie universelle, ancienne et moderne, Vol. XXXIX (Paris, 1811-1828), pp. 332-336; Dizionario biografico universale, Vol. IV (Florence, 1845-1846), pp. 1003-1004; Enciclo- pedia italiana, Vol. XXX (Rome: Istituto Poligrafico dello State, 1949), p. 258; and Girolamo Ghilini, Teatro d'huomini letterati (Venice, 1647), pp. 126-127; and from Ferguson, "Secrets of Alexis."

9 Maylender, Storia delle accademie d'Italia, Vol. II, pp. 70-77, 122-145; Vol. V, pp. 134-135.

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described in his preface. Later he implies that the academy flourished for ten years, but this was surely a mistaken recollection, because it would put him in Naples in 1538, three years before the establishment of the Sdegnati. Perhaps Ruscelli's statement should be taken as an offhand but overzealous estimate of the "several years" that the society existed. The available evidence permits us only to suppose that the academy existed at some interval between 1541-1542 and 1548. For Ruscelli is vague about the details surrounding the establishment and functioning of the Accademia Segreta. He not only conceals the identity of the members of the society and the city in which it was founded, but fails to mention the date of its origin.

Ruscelli also reveals in the proem that he had earlier published part of the results of the academy's research under the pseudonym of "Alexis of Pied- mont."'0 The Secreti of Alexis was one of the most extraordinary popular suc- cesses in the history of sixteenth-century literature. Almost immediately after its appearance in 1555, it was translated into Latin, French, English, Dutch, and German; within fifteen years, its four parts were published in fifty editions, and by the end of the seventeenth century, more than ninety editions had appeared in virtually every western European language.

Why was Ruscelli so secretive about this academy, to the point of publishing its work under a pseudonym? His reticence is, perhaps, understandable considering the political situation in Naples at the time. In 1547, known in Nea- politan history as the "year of the tumult," the Spanish viceroy Don Pedro of Toledo attempted to introduce the Spanish Inquisition into Naples in order to check the growth of Protestantism." The very mention of that hated institution was enough to inflame the people of Naples. On 11 May the city rose. Amid cries of "Armi, armi! Serra, serra!" the edict mentioning the Inquisition was torn down, houses and shops were closed, and the people stormed the Spanish gar- rison. Hundreds were killed or arrested during the rebellion, which erupted periodically, lasting throughout the summer. Although the Inquisition was forestalled, the viceroy took stern measures to stem the tide of popular revolt. Regarding the Neapolitan academies as hotbeds of religious and political sub- version, Toledo closed them all down. The historian and notary Antonio Castaldo, who was at the time secretary of one of these academies, the Sereni, observed that the reason for their closing was "that it did not look good to have under the pretext of literary exercise so many gatherings and such continuous meeting of the wisest and loftiest minds of the city, because the pursuit of letters makes men more shrewd, bolder, and more headstrong in their actions."'2 Pietro Giannone, the eighteenth-century historian of Naples, wrote:

10 Secreti del reverendo donno Alessio piemontese (Venice: Sigismondo Bordogna, 1555); see also William Eamon, "The Secreti of Alexis of Piedmont," Res Publica Litterarum, 1979, 2:43-55.

11 For a detailed description of the "tumult," see Pietro Giannone, The Civil History of the Kingdom of Naples, Vol. II, trans. James Ogilvie (London, 1731), pp. 555-564; see also Henry Charles Lea, The Inquisition in the Spanish Dependencies (New York: Macmillan, 1908), pp. 70- 77; and Luigi Amabile, II Santo Officio della inquisizione in Napoli, Vol. I (Castello: S. Lapi, 1892), pp. 192-206.

12 The most detailed history of the Neapolitan academies is Camillo Minieri-Riccio, "Notizia delle accademie institute nelle provincie napolitane," Archivio storico per le province napolitane, 1877, 2:382-390, 581-586, 855-868; 1878, 3:145-163, 293-314; and "Cenno storico delle accademie fiorite nella citta di Napoli," Arch. stor. prov. nap., 1878, 3:746-758; 1879, 4:163-177, 379-394, 516-536; 1880, 5:131-157, 349-373, 578-612. See "Cenno storico," 1879, 4:173-174, quoting here p. 173:

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The Reason why these Academies were so suddenly suppressed, was a Rule laid down, That every Member should read a Lecture, in Disputing, upon which after- wards (although the Subjects were Philosophy or Rhetorick) they often dropt the Subject, and fell into Questions of Scripture and Divinity, and therefore all those Schools were forbidden and abolished.'3

Although there is no positive evidence of intrigue in the academies, Toledo's suspicions are understandable in light of the deliberate cloak of secrecy under which many of these groups operated. The Accademia Segreta, for example, adopted elaborate rules to insure that its deliberations would remain secret. Everyone took an oath never to disclose to anyone even the existence of the organization. Only the town physicians were let in on the secret, because they were needed to help administer the drugs generated by the society in the experiments. Moreover, Toledo's difficulties with the Neapolitan nobility had begun almost from the moment of his appointment to the viceroyalty in 1532. At the beginning of his reign, he took measures to reduce their power and curb their rowdy misbehavior.14 In doing so, he made himself a bitter enemy of the nobility and came to believe, with some justification, that they plotted against him. The academies, which were patronized and sometimes organized by the nobility, certainly constituted, in Toledo's mind at least, potential centers for political conspiracy.

It is possible that Ruscelli's academy was one of the groups closed down by Toledo's decree or, more plausibly, that they disbanded voluntarily during the bloody tumult of 1547. Although the society is not mentioned by any of the early historians, this might be simply because the elaborate precautions for keeping the group secret were effective. This assumption would certainly help to explain Ruscelli's move to Venice (perhaps shortly after the closing of the academies in May 1547), his publication of the Secreti of Alexis under a pseudonym, and his reluctance to publish his account of the academy. Even though Ruscelli wrote and published the Secreti of Alexis in Venice, he would have been concerned that revealing his true identity so soon after the closing of the academy might reopen old wounds and perhaps cause trouble for friends still living in Naples. This concern stayed with him throughout the remaining years of his life, for despite the enormous success of the Secrets of "Alexis," Ruscelli withheld publication of the Secreti nuovi, with its description of the academy, leaving it to his heirs to send to the printer after his death. Ironically, none of the works printed under Ruscelli's own name were even remotely as popular as the one he published under the pseudonym of Alexis of Piedmont.

Our presumption, then, is that the Accademia Segreta flourished in the city of Naples sometime between 1542 and 1547, when it disbanded or was closed down by the authorities. The elaborate activities of the academy, including the

"Que non pareva bene, che sotto pretesto di esercizio di lettere si facessero tante congregazione, e quasi continue unioni dei pii savj ed elevati spiriti della citta, cosi nobili, come popolari; perocche per le lettere si rendono piu ancostumati gli uomini ed accorti, e si fanno anco piu animosi e risoluti nelle loro azioni."

13 Giannone, History of Naples, Vol. II, p. 555. 14 Among these measures were an edict against duelling and reforms to make the justice system

more equitable. See ibid., Vol. II, pp. 527-532; and Gabriele Pepe, II mezzogiorno d'ltalia sotto gli Spagnoli (Florence: G. C. Sansoni, 1952), pp. 10-12.

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building of special quarters, could not have been supported without the private wealth of its members and the generous contributions of the society's patron. The amount of money involved was quite substantial. The eighteen contributing members of the academy put up 5,600 scudi per year to maintain the academy. The "prince" contributed a thousand outright and another thousand in the form of a datio, or duty, whose income went to the academy.15 These contributions, along with another 200 scudi from the prince's relative and minister, brought the total yearly operating budget of the academy to 7,800 scudi. Considering that the Spanish viceroy's salary at the time was 10,000 scudi per year, this represents a tidy sum indeed!16 Who was this "magnanimous Prince" who so generously supported the scientific work of the academy? That question, unfortunately, is only one of many that cannot be answered. If the company existed in the city of Naples, it must have been one of the many nobility residing there; it could not have been the viceroy himself, a known and bitter opponent of the academies even before the year of the tumult. The resident nobility of this and other cities did found and support such academies. In 1546, for example, the nobility of the Seggio di Nido erected a literary and philosophical academy in Naples under the name of the Sereni, and "prepared a handsome Apartment on a Level with the Court-yard of St. Angelo a Nido." Among the members of this group were the marquis della Terza, the count of Montella, and the duke of Mondragone. The nobility of the Seggio Capuano founded another academy called the Ardenti under the leadership of Ferrante Carafa, marquis of Santo Lucido. Another group, called the Incogniti, was founded by the viscount of Lesina and met in the courtyard of the Annunciata.17 Whoever the benefactor of the Accademia Segreta was, he deserves to be recognized in the history of science as a man dedicated to the advancement of experimental science and to its use in promoting the welfare of his city.

The organization and activities of the Accademia Segreta reveal a number of important characteristics of science as it was practiced in the early Italian academies. Unlike the majority of these societies, which were concerned primarily with literary and philosophical activities, Ruscelli's group seems to have devoted

15 A Neapolitan scudo was worth 1.1 ducats in the 16th century (we are grateful to Antonio Ca- labria for this information). The datio, or excise tax, was a common means of raising local revenue in 16th-century Italy; see note 27 below. For more on Neapolitan finances, see Antonio Calabria, "State Finance in the Kingdom of Naples in the Age of Philip II," (Ph.D. diss., Univ. California, Berkeley, 1978).

16 This sum, substantial as it is, pales beside the finances of the famous Accademia Venetiana, founded by the Venetian patrician Federigo Badoer in 1557. Having over a hundred members, this group was endowed with land worth 100,000 ducats, had other property which brought in at least 1,000 ducats in rents, and received cash gifts amounting to at least 5,300 ducats. In 1560, the Badoeri were cashing credits at Antwerp amounting to a staggering 54,296 ducats and paying out in return 41,215 ducats. They had a paid staff consisting of four notaries, a chancellor, and a large secretariat. Unfortunately, Badoer overextended himself financially, bankrupting the society. The Venetian gov- ernment closed it down in 1561. See Paul Lawrence Rose, "The Accademia Venetiana: Science and Culture in Renaissance Venice," Studi Veneziani, 1969, 11:191-242. For the relative value of the Neapolitan ducat in the 16th century, consult Giovanni Mira, "Contributo per una storia dei prezzi in alcune province delle Puglie," Societat Italiana di Statistica: Atti della IV riunione scientifica (Rome, 1942), pp. 153-173; and Giuseppe Coniglio, "La rivoluzione dei prezzi nella citta di Napoli nei secoli XVI e XVII," Societd Italiana di Statistica: Atti della VIII riunione scientifica (Rome, 1950), pp. 205-240, which give prices for various goods and salaries for certain professionals and workers.

17 See Minieri-Riccio, "Cenno storico," 1880, 5:590-592 (Sereni); 1879, 4:172-174 (Ardenti); 1879, 528-529 (Incogniti); and Giannone, History of Naples, Vol. II, p. 555.

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itself almost exclusively to a crude form of experimentation. Its work corre- sponds closely to that of della Porta's Accademia dei Segreti, which della Porta published in his expanded Magia naturalis of 1589. Like that work, Ruscelli's Secreti nuovi is essentially a book of recipes or "secrets." In the sixteenth century, the term "secret" referred, among other things, to an "experiment," not in the sense of a test of hypothesis, but rather of a recipe or formula actually tried out.18 Thus the aim of the Accademia Segreta, as Ruscelli states, was to "try out" or "prove" all the recipes and secrets that they could find in manuscripts or printed books or directly from others. It is important to stress here that Ruscelli saw this process as a deliberate application of an experimental method. Dissatisfied with the knowledge and techniques that were handed down through books, the society insisted that each recipe be "proven" three times before it should be accepted as trustworthy. Although the method employed here was obviously rather primitive, it is historically quite significant, for it reveals a stage in the development of the concept of experiment that stands midway between the medieval concept of experimenta as ordinary experience and Galileo's method of using an experiment to test a hypothesis.19

Another distinctive feature of the Accademia Segreta was the active role that artisans played in it. The society employed eleven specialized craftsmen and "choremen" to help them set up the experiments in the Filosofia, or laboratory, which they had built for that purpose. Nor were the members of the society averse to dirtying their own hands, for as Ruscelli explicitly states, "these higher people never failed to lend a hand willingly or busy themselves where necessary." Indeed, the academy, where artisans worked side by side with men of leisure and learning, is a remarkable illustration of the union of scholars and craftsmen that was so important for the Scientific Revolution.20

The contents of the Secreti nuovi suggest that the academy's members were, if nothing else, exceedingly industrious. The text contains a total of 1,245 recipes. If each of these were actually "experimented on" three times, as Ruscelli claims, that would mean that the society performed more than 3,700 separate trials. Moreover, Ruscelli states that the recipes published represented only a selection of the society's work. Exactly what these "experiments" amounted to can only be guessed at. Presumably, the medical recipes were concocted and then tried out on different patients (which might explain why the town physicians were told of the society's existence), while the technological and alchemical recipes must have been tried out to see if they produced the intended results each time. Ruscelli's claim undoubtedly represents the ideal case. The number

18 Charles B. Schmitt, "Experience and Experiment: A Comparison of Zabarella's View with Gal- ileo's in De motu," Studies in the Renaissance, 1969, 16:80-138, on p. 87; see also Heinrich Schip- perges, "Zum Topos von 'ratio et experimentum' in der alteren Wissenshaftsgeschichte," in Fach- prosa-Studien. Beitrdge zur mittelalterlichen Wissenschafts- und Geistesgeschichte, ed. Gundolf Keil (Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag, 1982), pp. 25-36.

19 See the articles in note 18; see also Thomas B. Settle, "Galileo's Use of Experiment as a Tool of Investigation," in Galileo: Man of Science, ed. Ernan McMullin (New York: Basic Books, 1967), pp. 315-337.

20 See Paolo Rossi, Philosophy, Technology and the Arts in the Early Modern Era, trans. S. At- tanasio (New York: Harper & Row, 1970); Edgar Zilsel, "The Sociological Roots of Science," Amer- ican Journal of Sociology, 1941/42, 47:544-562; and A. R. Hall, "The Scholar and the Craftsman in the Scientific Revolution," Critical Problems in the History of Science, ed. Marshall Clagett (Mad- ison: Univ. Wisconsin Press, 1969), pp. 3-23.

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of experiments actually performed by the group probably fell far below this. Several recipes, for example, are said have been "proved" by King Robert, the Angevin King who ruled from 1309 to 1343. A "marvelous water" for clearing the eyes was prescribed to the Byzantine emperor in 1438; a cure for the plague was given to Pope Clement VII (1378-1394); and several recipes are said to have been verified by King Nicodemus!21 Whether the society actually "retried" these recipes is unclear.

A breakdown of the recipes themselves shows that the group's primary interest was in medicine. More than 82 percent of the recipes were medical; the remainder were distributed among cosmetics (hair dyes, removing spots and freckles, skin treatments, teeth cleansers, etc.), alchemical processes, recipes for pigments and dyes, metallurgical recipes, and miscellaneous technical recipes (glue, artificial amber and pearls, etc.) (see Table 1). This breakdown is some- what more lopsided than that of the Secreti of Alexis of Piedmont, where about a third of the recipes were medical. The recipes published in the Secreti nuovi were those, according to Ruscelli, which were "easy for everyone to do, of minor expense, and useful to all kinds of people." They may represent an upper- class interpretation of the society's medical needs and not necessarily the dis- eases most frequently encountered by readers, although it is unlikely that the two were unrelated. If the academy's perception of readers' wants was accurate, however, it appears that the most troublesome ailments were such ordinary complaints as discomfort in the eyes, toothache, sores, burns, abcesses, bladder stone, intestinal worms, and inflammations of the skin; a large number of entries addressed disorders connected with menstruation and pregnancy. All these ailments must have been widespread in the sixteenth century. The remedies no doubt also represented what the academy regarded as most amenable to self- cure, a confirmation, perhaps, of a growing sense of self-reliance that has been detected in other areas of sixteenth-century thought and behavior.22 The large number of panaceas, "marvelous waters," and multiple cures, on the other hand, possibly reflects a confidence in the powers of medicine that many sixteenth- century readers did not share.

The cosmetic, alchemical, and technological recipes in the Secreti nuovi give a better idea of who the "general readers" the society hoped to touch might have been. These reflect the distinctly upper-class tastes of the nobility and rising bourgeoisie, an audience no doubt very much like the twenty-seven members of the academy. The alchemical recipes are generally free of the pre- tentious claims made in many late medieval texts; they are concerned not so much with transmutation of metals as with superficial coloring and tinting and with preparing compounds for their use in making drugs.23 Certain common alchemical processes, such as to "congeal mercury," seem to be preparatory stages to the "great art." None of these recipes, nor the metallurgical and dyeing procedures, would have been of much use to artisans, who would have learned

21 Secreti nuovi, fols. 8, 91v, 116r-v, 151v, 231r-v. 22 Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic (New York: Scribners, 1971), pp. 277-278,

663-666; Elizabeth Eisenstein, The Printing Press as an Agent of Change: Communications and Cultural Transformations in Early-Modern Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1979), pp. 243-247.

23 Cf. the attitudes toward alchemy represented in Benedetto Varchi, Questione sull'alchimia (1544), ed. Domenico Moreni (Florence: Magheri, 1827). We are grateful to Thomas Settle for supplying a copy of this work.

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Table 1. Breakdown of recipes in Ruscelli's Secreti nuovi (1567) and Secreti del reverendo donno Alessio piemontese (1555).

Number of Recipes

Category Secreti Secreti del nuovi Alessio

MEDICAL RECIPES

Eye ailments 118 0

Sores, swelling, burns, abcesses 95 10 Stomach and intestinal pains 82 7

Penis, urinary tract (including stone) 58 4 Sores in mouth, teeth, gums 54 2 Women's disorders (re menstruation,

pregnancy) 50 4 Panaceas and general cures 46 8

Respiratory ailments (including cough) 41 13

Plague 37 27 Intestinal worms 36 3 Pain in legs, arms, feet, joints 35 4

Headache, dizziness 32 3

Wounds, cuts, abrasions 29 8

Fevers, agues 28 1 Liver and spleen 27 1 Ear ailments (including deafness) 25 1

Mange, itch 24 0

Poison, venomous bites and stings 23 1 General aches and pains 21 0 Gout 18 0

Heart, circulatory 15 1 Nosebleed 14 0

Purges 14 1 Fractures and other bone disorders 14 1

Ringworm and skin fungus 13 0 Hemorrhoids 13 1

Epilepsy 7 1

Soporifics 7 0

Calluses, corns, warts 5 1

Syphilis 5 0

Psychological disorders (e.g., melancholia, memory loss) 5 0

Scrofula 5 4 Rabies 4 1

Paralysis 3 0

Leprosy 2 0

Dropsy 2 0 Unidentified or unspecified 17 0

TOTAL MEDICAL 1,024 108

NOTE: Medical recipes are identified by the disease they are purported to cure, except for a few identified by their operation on the body.

335




Table 1-Continued

Number of Recipes Category Secreti Secreti del

nuovi Alessio

COSMETIC RECIPES

Skin treatments to remove spots, wrinkles 34 4 Hair treatments (e.g., dyes, depilatories) 21 12 Tooth, gum, breath treatments 20 7 Other facial and skin treatments 12 28

TOTAL COSMETIC 87 51

TECHNICAL RECIPES

Alchemical products 83 14

Paints, pigments, dyes, ink 23 59 Metallurgical products 20 16 Miscellaneous (glue, artificial amber) 8 25 Perfumes, soap, pomanders 0 77

TOTAL TECHNICAL 134 191

TOTAL RECIPES 1,245 350

techniques through an oral tradition, but they do reflect a growing interest on the part of the literati in craft procedures.

One final question must be asked: did this society really exist, or was it merely the product of a fertile Renaissance imagination? Unfortunately, the available evidence does not permit a definite answer. It is possible, of course, that Ru- scelli fabricated the whole thing with the aim of legitimizing his claim of being the author of the highly successful Secreti of Alexis of Piedmont. It is also possible that Ruscelli's visionary society was not a real academy at all, but was rather an example of a utopian social organization of the type later represented by Johann Valentin Andrae's Christianopolis (1619), with its laboratorium in the center of the city, and Salomon's House in Bacon's New Atlantis (1627).24 But the aims of and methods employed by Ruscelli's group were consistent with those of other scientific societies of the day, such as della Porta's Accademia dei Segreti. Nor does the extensive patronage and protection extended to the society seem disproportionate to what we know about the other academies. All that we can say, until further evidence surfaces, is that if we accept Ruscelli's account as authentic (and it is confirmed by Sansovino), then (a) Ruscelli helped to organize this experimental academy in Naples or in some other "famous city" of the kingdom; (b) the academy, financed partly by a local prince or nobleman, had twenty-seven members who met regularly for several years between 1542 and 1548; (c) it was disbanded or perhaps closed down by the Spanish viceroy, Pedro of Toledo, following the tumult of 1547; and (d) the experimental research

24 For the "Pansophic" Christian utopias of the 16th and 17th centuries, see Frank E. Manuel and Fritzie P. Manuel, Utopian Thought in the Western World (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1979).

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conducted in the academy was later published in the Secreti of Alexis of Pied- mont (several editions) and Ruscelli's Secreti nuovi. Whether these suppositions are true or not, Ruscelli's description of the academy reflects genuine and important sixteenth-century ideals about the organization and goals of scientific inquiry.

TEXT

Ruscelli's proem appears on folios 1-7 of the Secreti nuovi. The text seems to have been printed directly from Ruscelli's manuscript, which must have been rapidly composed and was obviously uncorrected by the author, then dead. Ruscelli's style is extremely intri- cate and sometimes ambiguous. Subject pronouns and verb tenses are indiscriminately shifted within sentences, and the sentences themselves are often exceedingly long and punctuated in eccentric ways. We have tried to keep the translation as close as possible to the Italian text and to retain its archaic flavor. Nevertheless, it was at times necessary to sacrifice literalness for readability, and we have usually made note of these instances in the footnotes.

[lr] PROEM OF GIROLAMO RUSCELLI

TO HIS WORK ON SECRETS

To the Reader

When I lived in a famous city of the kingdom of Naples, a few years before I came to Venice, I found myself in the company of twenty-four special persons, and with these and the Prince and Lord of the land, we founded an honorable Philosophical Academy, which for many worthy reasons we wanted to be kept and to be called SECRETA,25 but which continued to flourish with the rules and [lv] activities that are briefly outlined here.

First, we were twenty-four chosen companions, along with our three Lords and leaders-the Prince, Lord of the land, one of his relatives and a minister-so that alto- gether we were twenty-seven, a number deemed perfect and highly mystical among the best pagan [gentili] philosophers and wisest theologians. Among the said twenty-four men, there were seven native of the city proper, seven from diverse parts of Italy, seven Ultramontanes from various provinces, a Slav, a Greek, and an old Jew from Salonica who had gone many a time from the Levant to Christendom. The seven citizens of the city were all persons of scholarship and philosophical knowledge, all well endowed by Fortune, so that among all of us we had an income of nine thousand scudi. Five were without wife or children; the sixth had a wife, but barren for twenty-seven years; and the seventh had a daughter married to a wealthy person according to her rank.

Among the fourteen foreigners, nine were also well endowed by Fortune in their native land and lived honorably from their wealth, which they had sent to them from home to pay for the working attendants, the domestics, and all the other things that will be frequently mentioned here, further on. The last three had no private income or wealth, although they were engaged in some [2r] honorable and gainful occupation, and our company never failed to provide them with what they needed.

The seven citizens of the city had each voluntarily contributed seven hundred scudi a year. Among the seven other Italians, two were unable to contribute anything to the common expenses while four others each pledged one hundred scudi a year.26 The wealthy Ultramontanes among all of them wanted to give five hundred a year. But we

25 "[V]olsero che fusse & si chiamose SECRETA." This phrase is repeated, with the capitals, on fol. 4v; hence we have assumed that the group called themselves the Accademia Segreta or something similar. Following 16th-century convention, we give the name in Italian.

26 Ruscelli's text actually reads, "Gli altri quattro s'erano tassati volontariamente ammetter l'anno cento scudi per vno," but since this brings the total number of Italian members to six and not seven, we suggest an alternative reading.

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SECRETI NVOVI DI MARAVICLIOSA

V I R. T V'

EL S I G 0 R I E R O I f 0

it T S C :1 L L I

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C 0 X?t 7 i I [f L FI ( I O.

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I N kV IF N l i' I A, Title page of Ruscelli's

~App^cio n 1 'i e Sdn Mrcl r ..tia Secreti nuovi. Courtesy of '1ii Dj i X v, r $ the New York Academy

of Medicine.

did not want them to contribute more than three hundred, both because they were foreigners, and because together with the Italians, the company wanted to reach the number seven. Our magnanimous Prince contributed one thousand scudi a year, and another thousand which he collected from a datio that he put up for bid every year.27 Whoever got the right of administering it was obligated to donate this additional one thousand scudi to the company which, being secret, collected the said one thousand scudi under a different name from a third hand. The minister of his Excellency and his relative each contributed one hundred scudi a year. Therefore, all in all our company usually had five thousand scudi to spend every year, besides a thousand or so which it earned in the manner described later.28

We had as attendants and servants two apothecaries, two goldsmiths, two perfumers, one painter, and four herbalists and gardeners. [2v] Because they were needy persons,

27 Normally the datio, or excise tax, say on oil or soap, would be put up for bid to a local private collector, who would collect the tax and then realize a profit according to the amount of his bid. Here the text implies that by prior arrangement this particular datio was put up for bid only among the members of the academy, and that whoever won the bid was required to donate a thousand scudi from its profits to the society.

28 Ruscelli was careless about figures. The finances of the society, according to the figures he gives, total not 5,000 scudi but 7,800 scudi, or 8,580 ducats. Nor does Ruscelli describe any additional sources of revenue for the academy later in the text, as promised here.

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we kept them continually employed at good salaries and they remained extremely sat- isfied, being persons of good disposition, wishing to learn and to acquire virtue. Then there were deputies and choremen, of two kinds. The first took care of the house where we ate, minding the kitchen, the table, making beds and all the other things necessary for the livelihood of the attendants and the workings of the Filosofia.29 The members of the academy all ate and slept in their own houses, although on the first day of each month they gathered to take recreation together in the morning and to have dinner in this house common to all. The other part of the servants was devoted entirely to the service and ministrations of the Filosofia, such as carrying water, grinding, crushing, making ovens and other similar things, attending to the fires, luting vessels, making lute,30 sifting ashes, making alembics [capitelli],3' cleaning vessels and rooms and all the other chores necessary to such a Filosofia. And all those who stood above these attendants gave orders to the apothecaries, goldsmiths and perfumers, according to the tasks that they were performing, that is, if they were things of chemistry [spetiarie],32 they ordered the chem- ists, of perfumery, the perfumers, of colors, the painters, and so on, and these higher people never failed to lend a hand willingly or to busy themselves where necessary.

Our most benign Prince, on his own, [3r] committed himself to coming to a general meeting the first Sunday of each month, during which we discussed and showed all the things that we had done during the preceding month. For ten years, he missed it only six times, for the most justifiable reasons. But every time, he had wanted to make it up by coming on one of the following Sundays or holidays. The relative and the minister of his Excellency voluntarily agreed to come to the Filosofia (this is how, among ourselves, we called our common house) once every week. But because they were gen- tlemen who delighted in it, they came much more often than their obligations required and they were present almost as continually as every one of us. As for us, by will and obligation we never let a day go by without going there. It is quite true that our comings and goings were not at a precise or particular hour. We could go at any time that suited us, stay as long as we wished, looking over and hearing from the overseers what had been and was being accomplished, ordering experiments by general consultation or each on his own, for what we specifically wanted to prove and set to work. But it is necessary for the satisfaction of the readers to add the regulations and the operations of our said company, and to narrate first what had been our intention and that of our most generous Prince in founding and [3v] continuing our most honest and happy company.

Our intention was first to study and learn ourselves, there being no other study or discipline (and this is especially true in natural philosophy) than to make the most diligent inquiries and, as it were, a true anatomy of the things and operations of Nature itself. For one sees that the origin and development of medicine as well as all the other dis- ciplines important to human life and the ornament of the world were helped by art. In addition to our own pleasure and utility, we devoted ourselves equally to the benefit of the world in general and in particular, by reducing to certainty and true knowledge so many most useful and important secrets of all kinds for all sorts of people, be they rich or poor, learned or ignorant, male or female, young or old. First, during all those years, we continually experimented on all the secrets that we could recover from printed books

29 The Filosofia, as Ruscelli writes later, was the house or laboratory constructed by the society for carrying out its research.

30 Lute, or lutum sapientiae as the alchemists called it, was a preparation made of clay mixed usually with dung and cloth shearings, used to make a tight seal in vessels used in alchemical procedures; Alexis of Piedmont gives a recipe for making lutum sapientiae in Secreti (1555), pp. 218- 219.

31 The meaning of capitelli is unclear. It probably refers to a still-head, also called a head, capital, or alembic, placed on top of a gourd-shaped cucurbit, forming a complete distillation apparatus. The word alembic gradually changed its meaning in the Middle Ages to denote not only a still-head but the combination of head and cucurbit, and it is probably this meaning that Ruscelli has in mind. Several such apparatuses are depicted in Hieronymus Brunschwig, The vertuose boke of distylla- cyon of the waters of all maner of herbes, trans. Laurence Andrew (London: L. Andrew, 1527); see also R. J. Forbes, Shor,t History of the Art of Distillation from the Beginnings up to the Death of Cellier Blumenthal (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1948), pp. 76-77.

32 Literally "pharmacy," but the context of the text as a whole clearly indicates medical chemistry.

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or from ancient and modern manuscripts. And in doing such experiments we adopted an order and method, one better than which cannot be found or imagined, as will be re- counted next. Of all those secrets which we found to be true by doing three experiments on each in the manner that will be described later we, by the command of our Prince and Lord, chose some that [4r] are easier to do by everyone, of minor expense, and more useful to all kinds of people. I now send these to the printer for the benefit and the common pleasure of all beautiful minds that might take delight and interest in them.

Description of the house and laboratory which we called by its proper name

The Filosofia

Our most magnanimous Prince gave us, in the beginning, a parcel of land where stood several houses. It was in one of the better locations of his city, not exactly on the square or the main street, but not very far from it or from the palace of his Excellency. This parcel of land stretched out in length (that is, along the street where it stood) over fifty ordinary braccia33 such as those used to measure wool or cloth, which are the same or little different throughout Italy. In width, it stretched out over twenty-eight braccia, from which it follows that its length was a third larger than its width. It was secluded, detached and removed from other houses, and had a street on each side. After demolishing the old houses that stood there before, this parcel was ours, with three quarters of the expense provided by our Prince and one quarter by us.

[4v] First of all, we had all these considerations and intentions. First, that the building be as beautiful as possible, inside and out. Second, that it be most convenient for four kinds of people: those who continually served the Filosofia or laboratory; those who worked for these attendants and themselves for meals and other things; the companions, so that when they came there, they found themselves in a cheerful place, convenient in summer and winter; and all the companions or anyone who wanted to live in the house for days, weeks or months in order to be more continuously involved in the work. Third, that the laboratory be built in a part of the house most convenient for all sorts of needs, that it be cheerful and salubrious and above all secluded and quiet lest the ones working there be seen or heard by those who walked through the street or came for amusement and recreation in the garden or the other rooms, or by any other person except by their companions, or those whom these companions and the Prince himself wished to bring along.

And here it is declared, noblest reader, that although our company was called SECRETA and kept secret, this was not because our most prudent Prince or any of us wanted it so. On the contrary, his Excellency's intention and ours was that [5r] within a few years it would be manifested and publicized to every one as a thing most honored, most virtuous and most worthy to elicit the noblest rivalry from every true Lord and Prince in his state, and from every beautiful and sublime mind. But we wanted it secret for certain worthy reasons of ours and also because while reducing it to perfection, we would be able to do it more quietly, without being disturbed, impaired or troubled at all times by this one and that one running to come and see it. And above all, it seemed to us worthy of scholars to want the world to see and hear the fruit of our labor rather than mere rumors or extravagant promises such as many make. In our company there was an order and and an oath that no one could name or mention it to anyone without first obtaining permission from the company. For this, however, we did not use ballots, which are appropriate only to Republics and Princes; but pleasantly, by word of mouth, everyone gave his opinion, and it almost always conformed to the intention of the one who

33 The length measure braccia varied in Italy from region to region. In Naples it was equal to 22/3 palmi, or .699 meters. Ruscelli, however, was not a native Neapolitan, and since he refers specifically to braccia ordinarie "such as those used to measure wool or cloth," he probably had in mind the Venetian braccia, equal to .642 meters. This would make the academy's house about 32 x 18 meters, or 105 x 59 ft. See Ronald Edward Zupko, Italian Weights and Measures from the Middle Ages to the Nineteenth Century (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1981), pp. 40-49.

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had proposed it. Thus, our order was so well observed, with all peace of mind by everyone, that our most clement Prince and Lord of the house brought there only three persons, among whom were the most illustrious lady his consort and his most illustrious sister. The third was a very learned French Lord who took extreme pleasure [5v] in generously philosophizing. Everyone took the oath, not, however, in the name of God or sacred things, but on the love and grace of our Prince and on the person they loved best, never to disclose to anyone the existence of our company without first obtaining verbal or written permission from our Prince. All the physicians in the town knew of it, but neither they nor other people could ever go there if they were not taken by one of us who first had obtained permission from the whole company, as it has been explained. Like everyone else, they took the very same oath on the love and grace of our Prince not to say a word of it without our permission.

Now, our house, or Filosofia, in order to have all the said qualities and conveniences, was built in the following manner. First, in the front part, which was on the widest street and which, as we said, stretched out over fifty paces, there were three doors: one in the middle, which was the largest of all, and two on the sides, which were smaller than the middle one, but of equal size. They were all made with beautiful shape and workmanship, as was the facade. On the inside, all these doors had some arches which made an interior entrance hall, twenty braccia in height; in width, that is from the left to the right side, fifteen braccia; and in depth, proceeding forward from the entrance and walking straight, twelve braccia. In the middle of each of these was a spiral staircase, [6r] square, wide and very bright, leading to the upper rooms. On the first floor, between these doors, were beautiful rooms made for most honorable living, convenient in summer as well as in winter. These rooms had windows with iron bars overlooking the street and others on the opposite side, opening onto the open courtyard which we will describe later. So each of the rooms had an entry or exit through a door in the said courtyard, and another door in the small passage or space described earlier, under the arches of the doors of the house. Of these three doors of the said rooms on the ground floor, one was a common entrance to three rooms and each room in turn led to the next through this passage. But each also had its own door opening on the courtyard or cloister. The floor above cor- responded exactly to the one below, inasmuch as there were windows on two sides in these rooms as in the ones below. But the upper floor was divided otherwise, because it had the additional spaces taken up on the ground floor by the entrance spaces. In the middle, it had a very large room, very well proportioned, with a smaller room on each side with fireplaces, to serve also as bedrooms in any weather. On the sides of these three rooms and between them were other rooms, beautiful, large, exquisitely proportioned and having the best possible ornaments and comforts. Above the second floor there was a third, corresponding exactly to the second or middle one, except that [6v] it was a little lower. Therefore, the first part of our house, besides being beautiful, was also very comfortable and could receive, if need arose, any Prince with many domestics. It could also accommodate any strangers that the Prince or the company wanted to honor, provided that they be persons who took pleasure in Philosophy and took interest in the conversation of our company for a few days. We made it in this way also because our Prince came there sometimes, keeping us all amused and bringing all the persons who were in the favor of his Excellency, and because whenever our company and Fi- losofia would reveal themselves, one would see a room delightful in every way and worthy of high-minded people.

What has been described above was only part of the entire space of our Filosofia, that which stretched out in length, on the left and right sides of the main facade. The other part, just as long and wide as the first palace, was dedicated to a courtyard or open cloister where on one side were three beautifully located stairways leading to the middle floor of the first building, so that those who were in the courtyard and on the middle floor could easily go up and down the stairs at their pleasure. In addition, the doors where [7r] one entered from the stairways into the rooms gave them great grace and beauty. In this courtyard, on the wall opposite or facing the palace, were three doors, a large one and two smaller ones, corresponding exactly to the three doors that the palace had on the street, as was mentioned. They were made in another manner for the sake of variety, but beautifully also, making with the wall a marvelous facade with cornices,

341




windows, and ornaments which could be seen from the street when the doors of the palace opened. Between these doors of the second facade in the courtyard were small walls or parapets with seats made of beautiful stone, where stood small herb gardens. In the walls, in certain places, were windows with bird cages and other charming things. In the middle stood a wonderfully beautiful marble table, eight braccia long and three and a half wide. At each extremity of the courtyard were two other tables with eight sides, one of walnut and the other of ebony, inlaid on the sides with ivory and woods of different colors. The servants would put them back inside under cover to prevent damage by rain or sun. We would take them out only on certain days solemn for us or when some person came whom we wanted to honor, or to whom we wanted to offer pleasure or amusement. And so there were always seats for every class of people. In this place, where we often assembled and [7v] discussed the things done during the day, I collected all the following secrets and the preceding ones, which I published a few years ago under the name of Don Alessio Piemontese but which, in truth, were all gathered in the aforementioned academy, discovered and tried out by our happy company. And because they have been proved and proved again many times I have always held them dear and esteemed them greatly. But having seen how much the world is curious of these things, I never wanted to reveal them unless I first had permission from my Prince and my companions, who continue to work on new and wonderful things for the profit of mortals, who delight in the virtues that Nature provides in minerals, plants and stones. But something might happen to me in my cruel illness which has taken all my strength and keeps me continuously prisoner of my bed. Therefore, so that the present secrets do not go awry, and so that it might be known how they came into my possession, I wanted to tell how the whole thing happened, without any fraud. In this way, if they ever come to light, the reader will be of good will, and will find in this book things that are nothing but true and experimented several times. And the secrets are the ones written below.

ZEITLIN-VER BRUGGE PRIZE

The History of Science Society announces the sponsorship, through the generosity of Jacob Zeitlin and Josephine Ver Brugge of Los Angeles, of its prize to encourage the publication in Isis of original research of the highest standard. Consisting of $250 and a certificate, this prize is given annually, on the recommendation of the Zeitlin-Ver Brugge Prize Com- mittee, to the author of the best article in Isis in three years prior to the award.

Prize winners: 1979 Robert Nye, "Heredity or Milieu: The Foundations of European

Criminological Theory," Isis, 1976, 67:335-355 1980 Thomas L. Hankins, "Triplets and Triads: Sir William Rowan Ham-

ilton on the Metaphysics of Mathematics," Isis, 1977, 68:175-193 1981 Linda E. Voigts, "Anglo-Saxon Plant Remedies and the Anglo-

Saxons," Isis, 1979, 70:250-268 1982 Timothy Lenoir, "Kant, Blumenbach, and Vital Materialism in

German Biology," Isis, 1980, 71:77-108. 1983 Alexander Vucinich, "Soviet Physicists and Philosophers in the

1930s: Dynamics of a Conflict," Isis, 1980, 71:236-250.

The next award will take place in December 1984, and articles published in Isis between March 1981 and December 1983, inclusive, will be eligible.

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The Accademia Segreta of Girolamo Ruscelli: A Sixteenth-Century Italian Scientific Society

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