Democritus Revived, or On Atoms

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Original title: Democritus reviviscens sive de atomis ad excellentissimum Senatum Mediolanensem. Addita est Democriti vita cum indicibus necessariis A demonstrative natural-philosophical treatise, composed in the Euclidean manner with definitions, axioms, postulates, and propositions, that seeks to revive ancient Democritean atomism as a working and rigorously demonstrable science of nature acceptable to Catholic natural theology. It argues that matter is composed of physically indivisible but mathematically divisible atoms moving in a void reinterpreted as air, denies natural gravity and levity in favor of a single motive impetus, reduces the four elements to three (Terra, Aqua, Ignis) in alignment with the chymical tria prima of sulphur, mercury, and salt, and reconciles atomist cosmology with divine creation under the maxim opus naturæ opus intelligentiæ. It reconstructs Democritean doctrine from fragments transmitted through Galen, retains Peripatetic substantial forms, and reinforces its case with observation, including a free-fall experiment with wood and iron globes, a citation of Galileo's odd-number law of fall, and the palingenetic revival of a rose from its own ashes. The work is dedicated to the Senate of Milan and includes a life of Democritus and necessary indices. 👉 Read our introductory primer, full report, and finding guide here 📜 View the original source file This text was transcribed and translated as part of the ExLatinis project—an effort by Leo to make English translations of every published text in Latin in early modern Europe (between 1450 and 1750) available to the public for free online.

• Read our introductory primer, full report, and finding guide here
• View the original source file

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AQUILA NON CAPTAT MUSCAS STILLMAN DRAKE LIBRARY of the UNIVERSITY of TORONTO