she-philosopher.com: Looking forward (the LIBRARY section)

Burton’s “Digression” is an excellent synopsis of scientific knowledge to date, and deals with a typically baroque range of topics: the atmosphere, the earth, earthquakes, the antipodes, optics, biological diversity (evolution), the tides & oceans, human phenotypes, the plurality of worlds, and more.

Here, as elsewhere in his encyclopedic Anatomy of Melancholy, Burton takes an ecological approach to health care (e.g., linking air quality to melancholy and its cure). And he actively promotes the central role of science, along with mathematical studies, in the human quest for well-being.

RELATES TO: the series of GALLERY exhibits on melancholy; another LIBRARY e-text of excerpts from Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy (LIB. CAT. NO. BURT1621); references to Burton scattered throughout the site (e.g., the introductory webessay on Margaret Cavendish in the PLAYERS section and the site concept page)


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	Robert Burton’s “Digression of Air,” from Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) Burton’s “Digression” is an excellent synopsis of scientific knowledge to date, and deals with a typically baroque range of topics: the atmosphere, the earth, earthquakes, the antipodes, optics, biological diversity (evolution), the tides & oceans, human phenotypes, the plurality of worlds, and more. Here, as elsewhere in his encyclopedic Anatomy of Melancholy, Burton takes an ecological approach to health care (e.g., linking air quality to melancholy and its cure). And he actively promotes the central role of science, along with mathematical studies, in the human quest for well-being. RELATES TO: the series of GALLERY exhibits on melancholy; another LIBRARY e-text of excerpts from Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy (LIB. CAT. NO. BURT1621); references to Burton scattered throughout the site (e.g., the introductory webessay on Margaret Cavendish in the PLAYERS section and the site concept page)
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