Emajõe-äärses Academia Gustavianas peetud oratsioon vetest / An Oration on Waters Delivered at the Academia Gustaviana by the Emajõgi River

Abstract

Teesid: Loodusteaduslikud disputatsioonid 17. sajandil Tartus rajatud Academia Gustavianas tuginesid paljuski Aristotelese filosoofiale. Üks seal käsitletud teemasid oli neli elementi – õhk, tuli, vesi ja maa. Kõige rohkem väideldi Tartus maa ja õhu üle. Kummastki elemendist on teada kolm disputatsiooni, tulest vaid üks. Vee kohta disputatsioone ei olnud, kuid 1637. aastal peeti Tartus oratsioon ehk akadeemiline kõne „De aquis“ („Vetest“). Selle esitaja Petrus Langius toetus oma kõnes nii piiblile, antiikautoritele kui ka oma kaasaja teadmistele ja isiklikule kogemusele. Academia Gustavianas peetud oratsioon peegeldab üldisemalt varauusaegset suhtumist vee olemusse.

The study of natural sciences at the Academia Gustaviana Dorpatensis, founded in 1632, was based mainly on peripatetic philosophy. According to the constitutions of the institution, natural sciences were taught at the Faculty of Philosophy and at the Faculty of Medicine. The former took care of the mathematical disciplines (arithmetic, geometry, music, optics, mechanics, astronomy, architecture, etc.), the latter’s task was to teach physics and botany.

According to Aristotle, the world consisted of four elements – Earth, Water, Air and Fire –, which is reflected e. g. in his Meteorology, On the Heavens and On Generation and Corruption. In Tartu, disputations were presented on three of them – Earth, Air and Fire, all delivered at the Faculty of Philosophy; as concerns Water, an oration about it was made entitled De aquis (On waters). It was presented in October 1637 by a German student Petrus Langius, who originated from Heide in Holstein, situated on the shore of the North Sea. Orations were part of the study of rhetoric at the Faculty of Philosophy, and Laurentius Ludenius (1592–1654), the Professor of Law, Poetics and Rhetoric at the Academia Gustaviana from 1634 to 1654, came from Holstein as well.

The theory of the four elements had been replaced by the theory of the three principles (salt, sulphur and mercury) by Paracelsus (1493–1541) and that of two elements (water and air) by Jan Baptist van Helmont (1580–1644). However, the disputations made in Tartu still discussed the four elements and their mixture. The mandatory textbook for the study of natural sciences at the Faculty of Medicine in Tartu was Physiologiae Peripateticae libri sex (1597) by Johannes Magirus (ca 1560–1597).

Water was mentioned in the academic works of the Academia Gustaviana Dorpatensis from the medical, religious, economic and geographical points of view. It was approached in a rather practical manner involving descriptions of water’s role as drinking water, the medical use of mineral waters, the fishes living in rivers and lakes, the harbours by the Baltic Sea. Water was also discussed in connection with other elements as it was thought to have especially close ties with Earth. Water was regarded to be the cold and wet element.

The oration De aquis, delivered at the Academia Gustaviana in 1637, describes water as something simultaneously wonderful and frightening, comparable to a whale among the creatures of the sea and an elephant among the creatures of dry land. The author highlights several miracles from the Old Testament in the oration. Similarly with the disputations concerning the elements, the oration De aquis describes Water, using Johannes Magirusʼ textbook, while the author adds his own opinions about the element. He also uses Meteorology by Aristotle when describing rain, snow, ice etc. Langius also mentions some rare phenomena, such as worms, fishes, frogs, stones or mud falling from the sky. He believes that hail can predict the future, when one looks at the shape of hailstones.

The oration De aquis gives a geographical survey of springs, lakes and rivers of Europe and the Near East, beginning from Iceland in the North and ending with Palestine and Egypt in the South. The speech attributes mystical characteristics to several of these, e. g. guaranteeing eternal youth or causing a disease by the contact with their water. However, actual mineral springs and the growing interest in these waters are brought forth as well. The Inundation of the Nile in Egypt is told about, but the rivers of Germany have a special place in the speech. Although the title page of the oration De aquis declares that the speech is delivered in Tartu by the Emajõgi River, the latter deserves no mention in the text. The survey of the seas, however, also presents the Baltic Sea and its gulfs. The author endorses the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (ca 1480–1521) who discovered the Strait of Magellan and opened the sea routes for other voyageurs. It is disputable whether the author compiled the text of his oration in Tartu, as he could have taken it along from his previous studies in Germany. Petrus Langius describes the personal experience of a terrible flooding in his homeland Holstein in October 1634. He quotes the description of flood by Ovid and compares the event with the flood narrative from Genesis. Although these events demonstrate the dangerous nature of water, the author of the oration tells his audience that in case of perilous contact with water one should not lose hope but ought to rely on God.

To conclude – the oration De aquis delivered by Petrus Langius at the Academia Gustaviana in 1637 is based on the Bible, works of Aristotle and their commentaries, as well as other early modern texts and the presenter’s personal experience. The oration formed a part of the studies of rhetoric, natural sciences and probably particularly of geography, as no geographical disputations were delivered at the Academia Gustaviana. The speech also reveals that the waters of a personʼs homeland can have an impact on their world view.