What is science? p. 3 -- Scientific instincts in the lower animals, p. 4 -- Scientific knowledge of primitive man, p. 5 -- His observations of the sun and moon, p. 7 -- His observation of universal gravitation, p. 9 -- His observations in biology, p. 11 -- His knowledge of medicine, p. 13 -- His conception of life and his late conception of natural death, p. 15 -- His political ideas and conceptions of ownership, p. 20 -- His questionings of natural phenomena and his fanciful explanations, p. 22 -- His superstitious and their perpetuity throughout succeeding centuries, p. 23.
Sources of our knowledge of Egyptian history, p. 25 -- Deciphering the hieroglyphics, p. 27 -- State of civilization at the beginning of the historic period, p. 30 -- Building the pyramids, p. 32 -- The dawn of astronomy, p. 33 -- The Egyptian calendar, p. 34 -- Adjustment of the calendar, p. 35 -- The Egyptians' ideas of cosmology, p. 41 -- Their scheme of celestial mechanism, p. 42 -- Their conceptions of the heavenly bodies, p. 44 -- Charms and incantations, p. 46 -- Scientific knowledge of the Egyptian physician, p. 49 -- Abstract science, p. 51 -- Methods of computation, p. 52 -- Science and superstition, p. 54.
Babylon in the time of Herodotus, p, 57 -- Assyrian and Babylonian records, p. 59 Babylonian astronomy, p. 61 -- The adjustment
The Greek legend of Kadmus and the introduction of letters, p. 87 -- The Egyptian and Assyrian characters, p. 87 -- First steps in picture-writing p. 89 -- Egyptian writing, p. 90 -- Babylonian writing, p. 93 -- The Assyrian grammar, p. 94 -- The alphabet achieved, p. 98 -- The extension and perfection of the alphabet, p. 111.
Herodotus' account of an eclipse, p. 103 -- Thales, the Milesian, the father of Greek astronomy, p. 104 -- His knowledge of geometry, p. 107 -- His method of measuring distant objects, p. 107 -- Anaximander and Anaximenes, p. 109 -- Anaximander's conception of the, earth, p. 110 -- His ideas concerning man's development from an aquatic animal, p. 111.
Pythagoras the boxer, p.112 -- Pythagoras the philosopher, p. 113 -- Greek philosophers in Italy, p. 114 -- The followers of Pythagoras, Parmenides, and Empedocles, p. 117 -- The doctrine that the earth is a sphere, p. 118 -- Astronomical observations of Pythagoras, p. 119 -- His measurements of triangles, p. 120 -- His theories according to Diogenes Laertius, p. 121 -- His repudiation of the theory of spontaneous generation, p. 123 -- Xenophanes and Parmenides, p. 127 -- Xenophanes' conception of the formation of fossils, p. 128 -- Empedocles, physician, observer, and dreamer, p. 132 -- His denial of an an anthropomorphic god, p. 134 -- His anatomical knowledge, p. 136 -- His conception of evolution, p. 137.
Anaxagoras, p. 140 -- His ideas of the sun and stars, and the origin of the heavenly bodies, p. 143 -- His conception of universal gravitation, p. 145 -- Anaxagoras as meteorologist, p. 15 -- His biological speculations, p. 152 -- His physical speculations, p. 154 -- Leucippus and Democritus, p. 161 -- Democritus and the primordial atom, p. 163 -- Comparison of Anaxagoras and Democritus as inductive thinkers, p. 163 -- Hippocrates and Greek medicine, p. 170 -- His humoral theory of disease, p. 176.
Socrates and Plato, p. 179 -- Aristotle, p. 182 -- His teachings as to the shape of the earth, p. 183 -- His studies in zoology, p. 185 -- The similarity of his division of the animal kingdom to the Lamarckian system, p. 187 -- Theophrastus, the father of botany, p. 188.
Alexandria and Ptolemy Soter, p. 189 -- The great school of science founded, p. 190 -- Studies in geography and astronomy, p. 191 -- Euclid and systematic geometry, p. 192 -- Herophilus and Erasistratus and their studies of anatomy, p. 194 -- Archimedes and the foundation of mechanics, p. 196 -- His mechanical contrivances for the defence of Syracuse, p. 201 -- Plutarch's estimate of Archimedes, p. 203 -- Aristarchus of Samos, p. 212 -- His anticipation of Copernicus in his solution of the mechanism of the solar system, p. 214 -- His theory of the revolution of the earth, p. 215 -- Eratosthenes, "the surveyor of the world," p. 225 -- Hipparchus, "the lover of truth" p. 233 -- His measurement of the length of the year and the moon's disk, p. 239 -- Ctesibus and Hero, magicians of Alexandria, p. 242 -- Hero's steam-engine and other mechanical devices, p. 249.
Strabo the geographer, p. 255 -- His belief in the globe's sphericity, P. 258 -- His division of the earth into zones, p. 262 -- Pliny the elder
Periodicity in the continuity of the stream of history, p. 235 -- Length of the span from Thales to Galen, p. 286 -- Retrospect of the Greek cosmology, p. 287 -- Progress in the field of the biological sciences, p. 288 -- Birthplaces of the great philosophers and their relation to the peninsula of Greece, p. 289 -- Racial minglings and their bearing upon scientific advancement, p. 290 -- Superstitions of the ancient Greek and Roman world, p. 292 -- An example of Greek superstition as told by Herodotus, p. 294 -- An example as given by Lion Cassius, and the comment of Xiphilinus, p. 296.
HENRY SMITH WILLIAMS (Photogravure) . . . . . Frontispiece
MAN AND THE ANTHROPOID APES . . . . . .. Facing p. 10
THE SUN EMBARKING FOR HIS DAILY JOURNEY THROUGH EGYPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
TWELVE STAGES IN THE LIFE OF THE SUN AND ITS TWELVE FORMS THROUGHOUT THE DAY . . . . 40
SHU SEPARATING SIBÛ AND NUIT . . . . . . . 42
THE SELF-PROPELLING BOAT CONTAINING THE SUN, UNDER THE PROTECTION OF THE TWO EYES 46
THE WORLD AS CONCEIVED BY THE CHALDEANS 62
CHALDEAN MAP OF THE WORLD . . . . . . . .64
ASSYRIAN BAKED CLAY PRISMS, WITH' INSCRIPTIONS OF KINGS SENNACHERIB (705-681, D.C.), ESARHADDON (681-663, B.C.), AND ASHUR-BANI-PAL (668-626, B.C.) 68
THE MOABITE STONE . . . . . . . . . . . .86
MEXICAN PICTURE-WRITING . . . . . . .88
REPRODUCTION OF A FRAGMENT OF THE EGYPTIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD . . . . . . . . . . . . .90
OLDBABYLONIAN INSCRIPTION . . . . . . . .96
PYTHAGORAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114
HIPPOCRATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170
ARISTOTLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .182
ARCHIMEDES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .198
DIAGRAM TO ILLUSTRATE ARISTARCHUS' MEASUREMENT OF THE RELATIVE DISTANCES FROM THE EARTH OF THE MOON AND THE SUN . . . . . . . . Facing p. 218
DIAGRAM TO ILLUSTRATE BRATOSTHENES' MEASUREMENT OF THE GLOBE . . . . . . . . .230
DEVICE FOR CAUSING THE DOORS OF THE TEMPLE TO OPEN WHEN THE FIRE ON THE ALTAR IS LIGHTED 246
THE STEAM-ENGINE OF HERO . . . . . . . . .248
THE SLOT-MACHINE OF HERO . . . . . . . . .250
PLINY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .254
PTOLEMY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .268
GALEN .........280
SHOULD the story that is about to be unfolded be found to lack interest, the writers must stand convicted of unpardonable lack of art. Nothing but dulness in the telling could mar the story, for in itself it is the record of the growth of those ideas that have made our race and its civilization what they are; of ideas instinct with human interest, vital with meaning for our race; fundamental in their influence on human development; part and parcel of the mechanism of human thought on the one hand, and of practical civilization on the other. Such a phrase as ``fundamental principles'' may seem at first thought a hard saying, but the idea it implies is less repellent than the phrase itself, for the fundamental principles in question are so closely linked with the present interests of every one of us that they lie within the grasp of every average man and woman -- nay, of every well-developed boy and girl. These principles are not merely the stepping-stones to culture, the prerequisites of knowledge --
It is our task, not merely to show what these principles are, but to point out how they have been discovered by our predecessors. We shall trace the growth of these ideas from their first vague beginnings. We shall see how vagueness of thought gave way to precision; how a general truth, once grasped and formulated, was found to be a stepping-stone to other truths. We shall see that there are no isolated facts, no isolated principles, in nature; that each part of our story is linked by indissoluble bands with that which goes before, and with that which comes after. For the most part the discovery of this principle or that in a given sequence is no accident. Galileo and Keppler must precede Newton. Cuvier and Lyall must come before Darwin; -- Which, after all, is no more than saying that in our Temple of Science, as in any other piece of architecture, the foundation must precede the superstructure.
We shall best understand our story of the growth of science if we think of each new principle as a stepping-stone which must fit into its own particular niche; and if we reflect that the entire structure of modern civilization would be different from what it is, and less perfect than it is, had not that particular stepping-stone been found and shaped and placed in position. Taken as a whole, our stepping-stones lead us up and up towards the alluring heights of an acropolis of knowledge, on which stands the Temple of Modern Science. The story of the building of this wonderful structure is in itself fascinating and beautiful.