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Peter Krivatsy, PhD

JAMA. 1970;212(1):115-120.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

The connections of man and nature have engaged the attention of physicians and philosophers from earliest times. One of the seminal ideas in the history of thought is the relationship expressed by the terms "macrocosm" and "microcosm," the great universe and the individual small universe which mirrors the great one. A world soul was considered to animate the universe, and the human body, with its own soul, was a miniature universe. The events which take place in the great universe found a reflection in the individual man.

The ancient Greeks thought much about the problem. Ionian philosophers speculated about the multiplicity of things in nature, and the Pythagoreans and others concluded that a kinship between man and nature must be close, since the universe was one, divine, and eternal. The parallel between man and the cosmos was mentioned by Anaximenes and Democritus.

The idea of the macrocosm and the microcosm . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Md.

Footnotes
Reprint requests to 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Md 20014.

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