‘Meest alle van best mahoniehout vervaardigd’. Het kabinet van filosofische instrumenten van de Doopsgezinde Kweekschool te Amsterdam, 1761-1828

Abstract

'Made almost all of best mahogany: The cabinet of philosophical instruments of the Amsterdam mennonite seminary, 1761-1828 In 1761 a group of eighteen wealthy Dutch Mennonites raised funds that enabled the Mennonite Theological Seminary at Amsterdam to purchase a fairly complete cabinet of scientific instruments (at the time termed ‘philosophical instruments'). At first sight this phenomenon of a theological college with a large physics cabinet may seem strange, but this initiative was completely in line with the Mennonite tradition of regarding the study of nature as an epistemological source for truly valuing God's creation. Members of the Dutch Mennonite community had been amongst the first adherents of Newtonian philosophy in the Netherlands. Since 1718 lectures on natural philosophy had been given for Mennonite dilettantes, first by the instrument maker and mathematical practitioner D.G. Fahrenheit) and later by the Mennonite preacher Klaas de Vries. By introducing a course of experimental philosophy at the Seminary the Mennonites hoped to stimulate a physico-theological attitude in the future preachers. The Mennonite collection of scientific instruments was the first institutional cabinet of this kind in the city of Amsterdam. Most instruments were made by the Amsterdam artisan Adam Steitz) who also made some improvements to the standard equipment. Until the late 1780s Steitz also functioned as the amanuensis of the collection. During the period the cabinet existed, the instruments were used for instruction by the philosophical professors De Vries (1761-1766), Oosterbaan (1766-1786), Van Swinden (1786-1800), Hesselink (1800-1811) and again Van Swinden (1811-1826). The latter also used the Mennonite cabinet of scientific instruments for instruction at the local Athenaeum Illustre (a predecessor of the present University of Amsterdam). In 1828, after a radical reorganisation of the curriculum of the Mennonite Seminary the courses on experimental philosophy were abolished (in line with the fading influence of physico-theological reasoning in the early 19th century) and the instruments were put up for auction. This paper outlines the history of the cabinet and its use, and discusses some instruments listed in the auction catalogue, as well as in the archives of the Mennonite Seminary.