CHAPTER THREE: Louis XIV Knows Weeds
continued from 10/11/05
Any discussion of the eighteenth century should probably include something about the "con." While a connection between it and our search for the weed might seem tenuous, it does I think set the stage for a later century, where the relationship becomes clearly more obvious. And, many of the eighteenth century scams have a very modern look to them.
Nothing like "peer review" had been established. Some informal academic associations were forming and a few amateur scientists published monographs regarding their experiments and conclusions. But all of this was in its early stages. A gifted huckster with a silver tongue could always find the gullible, especially when the public was now being asked to re-examine old concepts and new ideas.
In England a Mary Tofts, even fooling the royal physician, convinced a significant number of her countrymen that she could give birth to rabbits. She was eventually found out when someone caught a servant buying the animals at the market. Shakespeare forgeries were also common; a William Ireland convinced a number of experts for some time that he'd found an unpublished Shakespeare manuscript entitled Vortigern and Rowena. The fact was that Ireland, the son of a bookseller, had written the manuscript himself.
The "science" of physiognomy appeared in the eighteenth century. The discoverer, Johann Lavater, claimed that by studying the outer appearance of all living things, you could know its character. For example, an elephant has an excellent memory because of its broad forehead. He went so far as to suggest that the judicial system could be dispensed with in most cases because once you knew the rules of physiognomy, you'd be able to tell if a person was capable of committing the crime.
Two major investment frauds thought up by several "astute" businessmen were committed during this time. One was called the South Sea Bubble and the other the Mississippi Bubble. It reminds me of the Enron-off-book-partnership-stock option-con-cum-derivative-whatever. Two companies were set up, one to trade with Spanish America and one to exploit the riches of Louisiana. Stocks were issued, backed by the government, and investors were told an incredible return was a sure thing. But there was no happy ending; the ventures collapsed, investors ended up with worthless stock, and the economy of France nearly collapsed.
Only imagination limited the variety of the cons. Miraculous drug cures abounded, magnetism that could cure impotence (along with sniffing some substance and watching erotic dances), and of course the age-old remedies that could turn back the clock of time. Some things never change. But what price progress?
To many in the eighteenth century it must have seemed that the world was getting smaller almost daily. Europeans were learning about other countries and cultures. With each new discovery of the world around them, Europe demanded more and more information.
The last time I was in Oregon I visited the Chinese gardens in downtown Portland, in the center of the city's Chinese neighborhood. It is an oasis of contemplation in the midst of a vibrant northwestern city. Portland's sister city is Suzhou, and designers and artisans from that city worked with Americans in the garden's construction, which began in 1999.
As the brochure states, the garden is to be thought of as a "Chinese landscape painting ... slowly unfolding to reveal its layered beauty of both nature and culture." And it's true. There is the balance one associates in the West with the Chinese culture, reflected in the garden's winding walkways, the different ponds, the pavilion, as well as the lounge house where you can go to have tea, play a musical instrument, or just sit. Among the plants in the garden are a variety of bamboo, water lilies, orchards, and perennials of different kinds. Yes, there is harmony and tranquility within a limited space. But I personally would rather wander through a tall grass prairie any day.
The interest in landscape themes that developed among Europeans in the eighteenth century had been common in Chinese literature and poetry for hundreds of years and later in Japan as well. The sounds of running water, the contour of rocks, and the spiritual enthusiasm for nature that the English, especially, raved about was an essential part of the Chinese culture, going back more than 2,500 years. But there was a profound underlying difference between the Chinese culture and the West.
We'll be looking at this when we visit antiquity, but suffice it to say that whereas many Europeans in the eighteenth century wanted to, once again, find the connection between humanity and nature, the Chinese (as well as the Japanese) never broke the original link. The eastern Daoist and Shinto belief always emphasized the ideal--of what we often hear in the West today--living in spiritual harmony with nature.
to be continued....
Any discussion of the eighteenth century should probably include something about the "con." While a connection between it and our search for the weed might seem tenuous, it does I think set the stage for a later century, where the relationship becomes clearly more obvious. And, many of the eighteenth century scams have a very modern look to them.
Nothing like "peer review" had been established. Some informal academic associations were forming and a few amateur scientists published monographs regarding their experiments and conclusions. But all of this was in its early stages. A gifted huckster with a silver tongue could always find the gullible, especially when the public was now being asked to re-examine old concepts and new ideas.
In England a Mary Tofts, even fooling the royal physician, convinced a significant number of her countrymen that she could give birth to rabbits. She was eventually found out when someone caught a servant buying the animals at the market. Shakespeare forgeries were also common; a William Ireland convinced a number of experts for some time that he'd found an unpublished Shakespeare manuscript entitled Vortigern and Rowena. The fact was that Ireland, the son of a bookseller, had written the manuscript himself.
The "science" of physiognomy appeared in the eighteenth century. The discoverer, Johann Lavater, claimed that by studying the outer appearance of all living things, you could know its character. For example, an elephant has an excellent memory because of its broad forehead. He went so far as to suggest that the judicial system could be dispensed with in most cases because once you knew the rules of physiognomy, you'd be able to tell if a person was capable of committing the crime.
Two major investment frauds thought up by several "astute" businessmen were committed during this time. One was called the South Sea Bubble and the other the Mississippi Bubble. It reminds me of the Enron-off-book-partnership-stock option-con-cum-derivative-whatever. Two companies were set up, one to trade with Spanish America and one to exploit the riches of Louisiana. Stocks were issued, backed by the government, and investors were told an incredible return was a sure thing. But there was no happy ending; the ventures collapsed, investors ended up with worthless stock, and the economy of France nearly collapsed.
Only imagination limited the variety of the cons. Miraculous drug cures abounded, magnetism that could cure impotence (along with sniffing some substance and watching erotic dances), and of course the age-old remedies that could turn back the clock of time. Some things never change. But what price progress?
To many in the eighteenth century it must have seemed that the world was getting smaller almost daily. Europeans were learning about other countries and cultures. With each new discovery of the world around them, Europe demanded more and more information.
The last time I was in Oregon I visited the Chinese gardens in downtown Portland, in the center of the city's Chinese neighborhood. It is an oasis of contemplation in the midst of a vibrant northwestern city. Portland's sister city is Suzhou, and designers and artisans from that city worked with Americans in the garden's construction, which began in 1999.
As the brochure states, the garden is to be thought of as a "Chinese landscape painting ... slowly unfolding to reveal its layered beauty of both nature and culture." And it's true. There is the balance one associates in the West with the Chinese culture, reflected in the garden's winding walkways, the different ponds, the pavilion, as well as the lounge house where you can go to have tea, play a musical instrument, or just sit. Among the plants in the garden are a variety of bamboo, water lilies, orchards, and perennials of different kinds. Yes, there is harmony and tranquility within a limited space. But I personally would rather wander through a tall grass prairie any day.
The interest in landscape themes that developed among Europeans in the eighteenth century had been common in Chinese literature and poetry for hundreds of years and later in Japan as well. The sounds of running water, the contour of rocks, and the spiritual enthusiasm for nature that the English, especially, raved about was an essential part of the Chinese culture, going back more than 2,500 years. But there was a profound underlying difference between the Chinese culture and the West.
We'll be looking at this when we visit antiquity, but suffice it to say that whereas many Europeans in the eighteenth century wanted to, once again, find the connection between humanity and nature, the Chinese (as well as the Japanese) never broke the original link. The eastern Daoist and Shinto belief always emphasized the ideal--of what we often hear in the West today--living in spiritual harmony with nature.
to be continued....
posted by mumpsimus | 1:42 PM
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