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Abstract
This dissertation explores the establishment of the first learned society in Europe dedicated to medicine and natural history. Letters by members, official documents, and the society's publications demonstrate how the institution's leaders attempted to establish standards of truth, to achieve standing in the republic of letters, and to win patronage from princes. Begun as a small, private institution, the Academia naturae curiosorum grew into an imperially supported organization that included members from the entire Holy Roman Empire and beyond and that published a yearly journal. The founding documents point to the tradition of learned academies and the utopian ideals upon which the charter members drew. Initially the academy suffered from the problems of commitment, financial backing, and an inadequate forum for exchange.
The publication of the academy's journal starting in 1670 brought the Academia more actively to the attention of the respublica litteraria. Discussions of the role of the irrational and the rational, of the place of curiosity, and of the concept of nature as a set of regularities or irregularities provide the structure for understanding the contributions to the journal. The medical and natural historical character of these articles highlights the conjectural aspect of these subjects as well as their dependence on observation. The leaders of the academy sought to establish standards for contributions which must be seen against the background of intellectual currents and social codes that determined not only credibility but behavior in the learned arena.
The attainment of confirmation and protection by Emperor Leopold I in 1677 lent the academy an additional and necessary legitimacy in the eyes of the learned world. Difficulties involved in enforcing the code of gentlemanly civility, however, threatened the society's image vis-a-vis the learned and courtly worlds. During the 1670s and 1680s the young institution gathered experience in these arenas which it then used to gain significant further privileges in 1687 and 1688. A chronic lack of funds continued to hinder the academy's activities. On the other hand, after the attainment of the second set of privileges, the Academia could present itself as an established institution with an identity that went beyond the personalities of its leaders and members, and which had thus secured its continued existence.