IV. THE CONTINUITY OF SCIENCE--THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH AND THE ARABS 43
V. THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE SCIENCES--FRANCIS BACON 57
VI. SCIENTIFIC METHOD--GILBERT, GALILEO, HARVEY, DESCARTES 72
VII. SCIENCE AS MEASUREMENT--TYCHO BRAHE, KEPLER, BOYLE 86
VIII. COÖPERATION IN SCIENCE--THE ROYAL SOCIETY 99
IX. SCIENCE AND THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY--BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 114
X. THE INTERACTION OF THE SCIENCES--WERNER, HUTTON, BLACK, HALL, WILLIAM SMITH 129
XI. SCIENCE AND RELIGION--KANT, LAMBERT, LAPLACE, SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL 142
XIII. THE SCIENTIST--SIR HUMPHRY DAVY 170
XIV. SCIENTIFIC PREDICTION--THE DISCOVERY OF NEPTUNE 184
XV. SCIENCE AND TRAVEL--THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 197
XVI. SCIENCE AND WAR--PASTEUR, LISTER 213
XVII. SCIENCE AND INVENTION--LANGLEY'S AEROPLANE 231
XVIII. SCIENTIFIC HYPOTHESIS--RADIOACTIVE SUBSTANCES 245
EARLIEST PICTURE KNOWN OF A SURGICAL OPERATION. EGYPT, 2500 B.C. 6
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS OVERCOMING AVERROËS 54
DR. GILBERT SHOWING HIS ELECTRICAL EXPERIMENTS TO QUEEN ELIZABETH AND HER COURT 72
THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL HEAVIER-THAN-AIR FLYING MACHINE 236
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE
SCIENCE AND PRACTICAL NEEDS--EGYPT AND BABYLONIA
If you consult encyclopedias and special works in reference to the early history of any one of the sciences,--astronomy, geology, geometry, physiology, logic, or political science, for example,--you will find strongly emphasized the part played by the Greeks in the development of organized knowledge. Great, indeed, as we shall see in the next chapter, are the contributions to the growth of science of this highly rational and speculative people. It must be conceded, also, that the influence on Western science of civilizations earlier than theirs has come to us, to a considerable extent at least, through the channels of Greek literature.
Nevertheless, if you seek the very origins of the sciences, you will inevitably be drawn to the banks of the Nile, and to the valleys of the Tigris and the Euphrates. Here, in Egypt, in Assyria and Babylonia, dwelt from very remote times nations whose genius was practical and religious rather than intellectual and theoretical, and whose mental life, therefore, was more akin to our own than was the highly evolved culture of the Greeks. Though more remote in time, the wisdom and practical knowledge of Thebes and Memphis, Nineveh and Babylon, are more readily comprehended by our minds than the difficult speculations of Athenian philosophy.