The chair of Astrology and Mathematics in the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico

Abstract

This article refers to the setting up of the chair of «Astrology and Mathematics» at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Mexico, in March 1637, to the contents of the different subjects and reading matter of the time as well as to the reasons behind the creation of the chair. The chair was established as a result of the theories predominant in the Old World according to which it was believed that the position of the stars was influential on physiological phenomena. Ever since the Antiquity a close influence had been ascribed to the action of the universe or macrocosm upon the human body or microcosm, and the article comments on the reasons why physicians had to study astrology, arithmethics and geometry, subjects that were considered indispensable for a good practice of their profesion.