In this paper we examine the study of minerals from the Renaissance to the early nineteenth century in the light of the work of Michel Foucault on the history of systems of thought. In spite of a certain number of theoretical problems, Foucault's enterprise opens up to the historian of science a vast terrain for exploration. But this is the place neither for a general exegesis nor for a general criticism of his position; our aim here is the more modest one of taking certain points from Foucault's study, The order of things, and seeing how far they can be extended into an area not explicitly considered in that work.

The purpose of this article is to point out that, contrary to popular belief, David Gregory did not lecture on the Newtonian philosophy when he was Professer of Mathematics at Edinburgh University. This belief has arisen because of a statement of Whiston's which attributes to David a paper written by his younger brother James. Nevertheless, some of David's Edinburgh students were acquainted with Newton's work, and I shall examine the extent to which this was so, and look at the other sources which he used in his teaching. Finally, Gregory's attitudes are seen to be typical of those prevailing in the Scottish universities of his day.

The twelfth-century school of Chartres has long been famous for its rhetorical excellence and its Platonist philosophy. Only recently, however, have scholars become aware of the important role played by natural science in this centre of European thought. Questions about the corporeal world, or, as one Chartrain put it, ‘those things which are and which are seen, were asked there just as frequently and their answers sought just as eagerly as more intangible queries about incorporeal beings. Chartres produced long encyclopedic works of natural philosophy and applied a scientific outlook to its theological writings as well.