Law and Political Science

Exhibit items on the subject of law and political science.

Exhibit Items

	A Description of the Plan of Peking, the Capital of China Gaubil, Antoine (1748) The Forbidden City was home to the Chinese Emperor and the political center of Chinese government for hundreds of years. Despite occasional tensions, Jesuits from Schall in the 17th century to Gaubil in the 18th century were granted admission as advisors.
	An Astronomical Catechism Whitwell, Catherine (1818) This dialogue between a mother and her daughter offers a delightful introduction to the night sky. It contains 23 engraved plates drawn by Whitwell herself, including four hand-colored folding plates.
	On Bees Stelluti, Francesco (1625) In this poster-sized work, the first publication of observations made with a microscope, Cesi and Stelluti studied the anatomy of the bee. The text includes classical references to bees as well as new knowledge, integrated in a tabular outline.
	Giuseppe Campani Microscope replica This is a replica of a microscope that is very much like one of the microscopes Galileo might have created. Indeed, it was once believed to have been made by Galileo, but is now attributed to Campani.
	The Firmament of King Sobiesci, or Map of the Heavens Hevelius, Johann (1690) The Uranographia of Hevelius, the most detailed and influential celestial atlas of the 17th century, contains 54 beautiful double-page engraved plates of 73 constellations, and 2 oversized folding plates of planispheres.
2	The Philosopher of China Confucius, (1687) Confucius lived in the early 5th century BCE, roughly contemporary with the Pythagoreans and Presocratic natural philosophers. Confucius taught: “Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself,” an early version of the Golden Rule.
3	School of the Stars Capra, Baldessar (1606) Galileo kept the design of his engineering compass carefully guarded, yet a dispute over intellectual property rights ensued. In 1607, Baldassar Capra published under his own name a Latin translation of Galileo's Compasso, including instructions for making the instrument.
3	Historical Narration of the Origin and Progress of the Mission to China Schall, Adam (1665) This book is Schall’s account of the Jesuit mission in China after Ricci. Working closely with Chinese collaborators, Schall oversaw the publication of more than 30 scientific works in Chinese which drew upon Galileo, Copernicus, Tycho, Kepler and John Napier.
4	On Secret Writing Porta, Giambattista della (1563) Members of the Academy of the Lynx preferred to communicate with each other in code. Della Porta was the most accomplished cryptographer of the Renaissance. This work includes a set of movable cipher disks to code and decode messages.
4	Pliny, “Natural History” Pliny the Elder, (1601) Pliny’s Natural History defined the scope and breadth of the field of natural history. Natural history meant the description (or “historia”) of nature, as opposed to explaining its causes (or “natural philosophy”). Pliny died in 79 CE while investigating the eruption of Mt.
4	Defense Against the Calumnies and Impostures of Baldessar Capra! Galileo, (1607) Featuring Galileo's Handwriting. Galileo published his second printed book to establish his priority rights and to inform Cosimo de Medici of the legal judgment against Capra. This copy, bound with the Compasso, is inscribed by Galileo to a Florentine physician.
6	Letter on the Pythagorean and Copernican Opinion on the Motion of the Earth and Stability of the Sun Foscarini, Paolo (1635) The Carmelite theologian Foscarini defended Copernicanism as compatible with Scripture in this open letter, originally printed in Naples in 1615. Foscarini employed arguments similar to Galileo’s own Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina, penned in the same year.
7	Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World Galileo, (1632) Featuring Galileo's Handwriting. This is Galileo’s witty and entertaining dialogue in defense of Copernicus. In the frontispiece, Aristotle and Ptolemy hold an Earth-centered armillary sphere (left). Copernicus holds a Sun-centered model of the universe (right).
8	100 Tales Boccaccio, Giovanni (1925) Eyewitness to Black Plague: In the opening section, the Florentine writer Boccaccio (1313-1375) recounted his observations of the plague. According to Boccaccio, most people died within about three days of the appearance of tumors.
9	Commentary on the Book of Job Zuniga, Diego de (1591) Scientific results were often reported in theological works, as in this first defense of Copernicanism in Spain. In his commentary on Job 9:6 (misnumbered 9:5), Zuniga summarized evidence for Copernicanism from the precession of the equinoxes.
9	On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, 1617 Copernicus, Nicolaus (1617) In De revolutionibus, Copernicus placed the Sun in the center of the universe and set the Earth in annual motion around the Sun. This is the 3d edition, printed in 1617, the year after the Inquisition stimulated fresh interest in the work by placing it on the Index of Prohibited Books.
11	Critical Commentary on the Official Austrian Pharmacopoeia von Raszynya, Huszty (1785) Rebellion against the limitations of 18th century HMOs: The frontispiece to this work protests the limited medicines available from the official apothecary. The Pharmacopoeia Austriaco-provincialis (Vienna, 1774) mandated the medicines and remedies to be made available.
14	The Cow Pox Jenner, Edward (1798) The quest to eliminate smallpox through vaccination: Jenner, a student of John Hunter, knowing that milkmaids who contracted cowpox became immune to smallpox, surmised that pus from cowpox blisters could be used to vaccinate anyone against smallpox.
16	Army Sanitary Administration and its Reform under the late Lord Herbert Nightingale, Florence (1862) Organization of nursing as a profession: Florence Nightingale championed social reform and the organization of nursing as a profession.