12-08-2025, 10:07 AM
Occult Botany: Cartesianism, Mechanical Philosophy, and Alchemical Theory in the Works of Pierre Le Lorrain, abbé de Vallemont
December 2025
Nuncius / Istituto e museo di storia della scienza
DOI:10.1163/18253911-bja10188
Authors:
Justin Niermeier-Dohoney
"In 1705, Catholic cleric Pierre Le Lorrain, abbé de Vallemont, published Curiositez de la nature et l’art de Vegetation , which described experimental methods for enhancing botanical growth. As a Cartesian, Vallemont had developed theories about the natural processes of plants through a mechanical, corpuscular natural philosophy. Yet, Vallemont had also hoped to reconcile these observations about plants with what he described as “occult physics” in these materialist terms."
https://www.researchgate.net/publication..._Vallemont
December 2025
Nuncius / Istituto e museo di storia della scienza
DOI:10.1163/18253911-bja10188
Authors:
Justin Niermeier-Dohoney
"In 1705, Catholic cleric Pierre Le Lorrain, abbé de Vallemont, published Curiositez de la nature et l’art de Vegetation , which described experimental methods for enhancing botanical growth. As a Cartesian, Vallemont had developed theories about the natural processes of plants through a mechanical, corpuscular natural philosophy. Yet, Vallemont had also hoped to reconcile these observations about plants with what he described as “occult physics” in these materialist terms."
https://www.researchgate.net/publication..._Vallemont