Tractrix (1989–1993)

Tractrix was a yearbook in English devoted to the history of the natural sciences, medicine, technology, and mathematics, which was published in five editions between 1989 and 1993. Its focus was, in particular though far from exclusively, on the history of Dutch Science and on Dutch contributions to the history of science.

Tractrix was born out of a want to supplement the Dutch-language quarterly journal Tijdschrift voor de Geschiedenis der Geneeskunde, Natuurwetenschappen, Wiskunde en Techniek, with a journal in the English language, aimed at (and comprehensible to) the international community of Historians of Science.

Contributions to Tractrix fell into two distinct classes: fully-fledged research articles, and materials coming under the general label of ‘services to the reader’. Tractrix was a yearbook in English devoted to the history of the natural sciences, medicine, technology, and mathematics, which was published in five editions between 1989 and 1993. Its focus was, in particular though far from exclusively, on the history of Dutch Science and on Dutch contributions to the history of science. In 1993, after the publication of five volumes, the series was discontinued for financial reasons.

All articles from Tractrix can be downloaded below:

Tractrix, Vol. 1 (1989)

• Tractrix, Vol. 1 (1989), Lambertus Okken, “Die technische Umwelt der fruhen raderuhr”
• Tractrix, Vol. 1 (1989), “Dissertations completed in the netherlands in 19881989”
• Tractrix, Vol. 1 (1989), Frank Huisman, “Itinerant medical practitioners in the dutch republic”
• Tractrix, Vol. 1 (1989), Theo Verbeek, “Les passions et la fievre”
• Tractrix, Vol. 1 (1989), Editors, “Notes on contributors”
• Tractrix, Vol. 1 (1989), R. Hooykaas, “Pascal his science and his religion”
• Tractrix, Vol. 1 (1989), H.J.M. Bos, “Recognition And Wonder”
• Tractrix, Vol. 1 (1989), Dirk van Lente, “Scientific management in the Netherlands”
• Tractrix, Vol. 1 (1989), André Wegener Sleeswyk, “The engraver Willem A Cruce (^^^)and the development of the chain-wale”
• Tractrix, Vol. 1 (1989), “What ‘Tractrix‘ is About, And Why”

Tractrix, Vol. 2 (1990)

• Tractrix, Vol. 2 (1990), E.J. Dijksterhuis, “Ad quanta intelligenda condita (designed for grasping quantities)”
• Tractrix, Vol. 2 (1990), “Dissertations Completed In The Netherlands 1990/1991”
• Tractrix, Vol. 2 (1990), H. Floris Cohen, “Essay reviews – ‘Open and Wide, yet Without Height or Depth'”
• Tractrix, Vol. 2 (1990), Bert Theunissen & Rob Visser, “History of biology in the Netherlands – a historical sketch”
• Tractrix, Vol. 2 (1990), Harold J. Cook, “Medical innovation or medical malpractice or, a Dutch physician in London Joannes Groenevelt, 1694-1700”
• Tractrix, Vol. 2 (1990), “Notes on contributors”
• Tractrix, Vol. 2 (1990), Kirsti Andersen, “Stevin’s theory of perspective the origin of a Dutch academic approach to perspective – Introduction”
• Tractrix, Vol. 2 (1990), Dirk van Lente, “Technology in dutch society during the nineteenth century”
• Tractrix, Vol. 2 (1990), Marian Fournier, “The book of nature Jan Swammerdam’s microscopical investigations”
• Tractrix, Vol. 2 (1990), Marta Fehér, “The triumphal march of a paradigm a case study of the popularization of Newtonian science – Introduction”

Tractrix, Vol. 3 (1991)

• Tractrix, Vol. 3 (1991), Joella Yoder, “Christiaan Huygens’ great treasure”
• Tractrix, Vol. 3 (1991), “Dissertations completed in the Netherlands 1991”
• Tractrix, Vol. 3 (1991), Henk J.M. Bos, “Enjoying Genius”
• Tractrix, Vol. 3 (1991), Edward J. Ruestow, “Essay reviews – Of a Man and His Microscopes Widening the Perspective on Early Modern Science”
• Tractrix, Vol. 3 (1991), Peter de Clercq, “Exporting scientific instruments around 1700 – 1. Introduction”
• Tractrix, Vol. 3 (1991), Karel Davids, “Follow the Actors? Some Recent Dutch Studies on the Development of Science and Technology”
• Tractrix, Vol. 3 (1991), “Notes on contributors”
• Tractrix, Vol. 3 (1991), Harry Lintsen en Rik Steenaard, “Steam and polders Belgium and the Netherlands, 1790-1850”
• Tractrix, Vol. 3 (1991), Anne C. van Helden, “The age of the air-pump”
• Tractrix, Vol. 3 (1991), Maarten Franssen, “The ocular harpsichord of Louis-bertrand Castel”

Tractrix, Vol. 4 (1992)

• Tractrix, Vol. 4 (1992), “Book reviews”
• Tractrix, Vol. 4 (1992), “Dissertations completed in the Netherlands in 1991/1992”
• Tractrix, Vol. 4 (1992), Floris Cohen, “Essay Reviews All Ever Said About Technological Progress”
• Tractrix, Vol. 4 (1992), Jan Sleutels & Raymond Corbey, “Essay reviews Darwin, Dilthey, and Beyond Science, literature, and hermeneutical ontology”
• Tractrix, Vol. 4 (1992), Cornelis Disco, “Essay review – Tactical Innovators or Technical Reactionaries”
• Tractrix, Vol. 4 (1992), E.J. Dijksterhuis, “Mathematics, science and technology as elements of culture”
• Tractrix, Vol. 4 (1992), Tim Huisman, “Squares and diopters the drawing system of a famous anatomical atlas”
• Tractrix, Vol. 4 (1992), J. Büttner, “The programme devised in 1791 by Fourcroy for the establishment of clinical laboratories”
• Tractrix, Vol. 4 (1992), Geert H.W. Vanpaemel, “Transformism and the question of species in belgium before the introduction of Darwinism”
• Tractrix, Vol. 4 (1992), “Work in progress – Current Research in the (Social) History of Biology in the Netherlands”
• Tractrix, Vol. 4 (1992), Christa Habrich, “Wunderkammer der Wissenschaften: Das neue Museum Boerhaave”

Tractrix, Vol. 5 (1993)

• Tractrix, Vol. 5 (1993), Willem J. Hornix, “A History of Chemistry in the Netherlands”
• Tractrix, Vol. 5 (1993), Eisso J. Atzema, “All phenomena of light that depend on mathematics”
• Tractrix, Vol. 5 (1993), Wyger R.E. Velema, “Book reviews”
• Tractrix, Vol. 5 (1993), Marijke Gijswijt-Hofstra, “Compromise, not conflict”
• Tractrix, Vol. 5 (1993), “Dissertations completed in the netherlands in 1993”
• Tractrix, Vol. 5 (1993), Karel Davids, “Essay reviews – Recasting the History of Technology in the Netherlands”
• Tractrix, Vol. 5 (1993), Dorit E. Tanay, “Jehan de Meur’s musical theory and the mathematics of the fourteenth century”
• Tractrix, Vol. 5 (1993), Eddy Houwaart, “Medical statistics and sanitary provisions”
• Tractrix, Vol. 5 (1993), Christoph Gradmann, “Naturwissenschaft, Kulturgeschichte und Bildungsbegriff bei Emil du Bois-Reymond”
• Tractrix, Vol. 5 (1993), R.J. Forbes, “Science and the crafts in the Ancient Near East”