Nuovi strumenti per la lettura dei semplici agli albori della scienza nuova

The so-called scientific revolution marks in the XVIIth century a turning point in the methods of observation of natural phenomena, as well as in the received view of the scholars devoted to scientific researches, and in the evaluation of the manual arts as fruitful means for the progress of knowledge. To discover how these changes came about it is necessary to trace some important premises to the scientific revolution which emerge from the works of philosophers, men of letters, artists and craftsmen during the XVth and XVIth centuries. We illustrate here the most salient features of the relation between Humanism and Science, in order to recover those premises to the scientific revolution. We end by showing how the introduction of Botanic Gardens and Herbaria – considered as new scientific instruments in the research and teaching activities – had the same revolutionary effects in descriptive sciences and pharmacopoeia as the invention of the telescope in astronomy and physics.