Corpuscolarismo e cura a distanza. La traduzione italiana (1742) del Discours di sir Kenelm Digby sulla terapia con la polvere simpatica

The Italian version of the Discours fait en une celebre assemblée [...] touchant la guerison des playes par la poudre de sympathie (A Paris, chez Augustin Courbé, 1658), dates back to 1742. With this dissertation, the well-known English philosopher and alchemist Sir Kenelm Digby brought to the attention of the physicists of the University of Montpellier the controversial practice of healing wounds at a distance, supporting the therapeutic properties of sympathetic powder (treated vitriol). Published several times over the course of the century, translated into various national languages ​​(English, German, Flemish, etc.) and welcomed with interest by the Royal Society, the Discours brought to the attention of scholars and scientists throughout Europe a therapeutic practice assimilated to magic, and judged dangerous by the exponents of official medicine. Digby was ascertaining the effectiveness of this kind of treatment by taking advantage of the new hypotheses relating to the nature of matter and the methodological and epistemological proposals that are due to Descartes and to other great novatores, starting from which the English alchemist arrives at unexpected scientific arguments on the treatment carried out remotely. Intended as a chapter in the history of the fortune of the Discours, the Italian edition, rather late compared to the vernacular printings made in other European Countries, stands as a further document of the continuity of a debate on the hypothesis of healing a wound without touching it, which, over three centuries (16th-18th), crosses magic, philosophy and science.