Bernard Nieuwentijt als experimentator

Bernard Nieuwentijt as experimentalist In his youth, the Dutch physico-theological author Bernard Nieuwentijt (1654-1718) was a cartesian; later he became an adept of the experimental philosophy as it had developed in England, He became an active experimentor himself. His famous physico-theological book Het regt gebruik der wereltbeschouwingen (1715) offers a limited but (as is argued) within its limitations fairly accurate view on his activities. Around 1695 he established a physical society in Purmerend, the town he lived at. Some of his experiments were intended simply to demonstrate known phenomena, while other experiments were thought of as independent contributions to natural knowledge. Moreover, it can be shown that Nieuwentijt was both interested and active in chemistry. This may have been the result of his stay at Leiden university in 1675. The present author argues that Nieuwentijt was active as a chemist before his interest in the English experimental philosophy arose, and that probably his changeover from cartesianism to the experimental philosophy was facilitated by his earlier commitment to chemistry.