Naturalis Historia was the first compiled collection of writing, which during the modern day would be referred to as an “encyclopedia.” Written by Pliny the Elder in the 1st century A.D., Naturalis Historia was divided into 37 unique books and contained more than 20,000 individual facts. Naturalis Historia was comprised of a vast array of subjects including astronomy, geography, zoology, botany, medicine, and even artwork, making it one of the most ambitious attempts in history to catalog and consolidate the entirety of human knowledge. Unlike earlier publications which often focused upon a singular discipline (e.g. medicine but not science or law but not ethics etc.), Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia compilation sought to collect and streamline the entirety of the natural world and the human understanding of it into a single reference point. Pliny the Elder’s encyclopedic vision influenced scholars for centuries after his death, and his work served as one of the main pillars of Medieval and Renaissance education in the centuries which followed. Shortly after completing this compendium in 77 A.D., Pliny the Elder died during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. at age 55 whilst attempting to rescue those who could not escape from the volcano’s clutch. Fortunately, the entirety of his Naturalis Historia work survived this natural disaster
If volume and weight are both calculated as 1 unit, when a cube is made 1 x 1 x 1 when accounting for its length, width, and height, and 1 when accounting for its weight, the entire cube is in equal proportion; a concept referred to as a “unit cube” called as such because each of its dimensions (e.g. height, width, length etc.) are 1 unit in length. This changes however when doubling the cube in size and weight. When doubling the cube to 2 x 2 x 2 when accounting for its length, width, and height, the weight does not move in lockstep, because it becomes 8x (2 x 2 = 4 x 2 = 8). This fundamental mathematical principle referred to as the Square Cube Law, explains why as animals become bigger on land, life becomes exceedingly difficult because of the need to maintain and support the large weight associated with such large stature. As animals become more massive, the effect of gravity places an increasing role in their lives. The shape and form of the body is forced to change. Bones become more massive to scaffold their large bodies. This is why the largest animals on the planet are found within the Earth’s oceans as being within water is a way to circumvent this outcome and helps explain why as animals become larger upon land, life becomes exceedingly difficult because of the need to maintain an appropriate structure and weight associated with such large sizes. This principle also explains why the concept of a giant (e.g. mythology etc.) is physically problematic as if a human being were scaled up proportionally to twice their normal height, their volume and weight would increase 8x, whilst the strength of their bones and muscles would not scale at this same rate. The result would be a life form whose own mass would overwhelm its skeletal structure, making movement, balance, and even basic survival virtually impossible without some form of environmental and/or structural intervention and compensation
Coffee was initially referred to as a drink only consumed by the devil and frowned upon until Pope Clement VIII tried it and changed his opinion which changed Rome, Italy’s stance. Coffee was seen as the devil’s drink because it was the drink of the Muslim and therefore by default the infidels with whom Christians had been at war for centuries. Pope Clement VIII famously stated that coffee was so delicious that Christians should cheat the devil by baptizing the beverage
