A History Of Science - free ebook by Edward Huntington Williams

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A History Of Science

Edward Huntington Williams

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BOOK I

BOOK I

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 han

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I. PREHISTORIC SCIENCE

I. PREHISTORIC SCIENCE

To speak of a prehistoric science may seem like a contradiction of terms. The word prehistoric seems to imply barbarism, while science, clearly enough, seems the outgrowth of civilization; but rightly considered, there is no contradiction. For, on the one hand, man had ceased to be a barbarian long before the beginning of what we call the historical period; and, on the other hand, science, of a kind, is no less a precursor and a cause of civilization than it is a consequent. To get this clearly

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II. EGYPTIAN SCIENCE

II. EGYPTIAN SCIENCE

In the previous chapter we have purposely refrained from referring to any particular tribe or race of historical man. Now, however, we are at the beginnings of national existence, and we have to consider the accomplishments of an individual race; or rather, perhaps, of two or more races that occupied successively the same geographical territory. But even now our studies must for a time remain very general; we shall see little or nothing of the deeds of individual scientists in the course of our

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III. SCIENCE OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

III. SCIENCE OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

Throughout classical antiquity Egyptian science was famous. We know that Plato spent some years in Egypt in the hope of penetrating the alleged mysteries of its fabled learning; and the story of the Egyptian priest who patronizingly assured Solon that the Greeks were but babes was quoted everywhere without disapproval. Even so late as the time of Augustus, we find Diodorus, the Sicilian, looking back with veneration upon the Oriental learning, to which Pliny also refers with unbounded respect. F

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IV. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ALPHABET

IV. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ALPHABET

Before we turn specifically to the new world of the west, it remains to take note of what may perhaps be regarded as the very greatest achievement of ancient science. This was the analysis of speech sounds, and the resulting development of a system of alphabetical writing. To comprehend the series of scientific inductions which led to this result, we must go back in imagination and trace briefly the development of the methods of recording thought by means of graphic symbols. In other words, we m

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V. THE BEGINNINGS OF GREEK SCIENCE

V. THE BEGINNINGS OF GREEK SCIENCE

Herodotus, the Father of History, tells us that once upon a time—which time, as the modern computator shows us, was about the year 590 B.C.—a war had risen between the Lydians and the Medes and continued five years. "In these years the Medes often discomfited the Lydians and the Lydians often discomfited the Medes (and among other things they fought a battle by night); and yet they still carried on the war with equally balanced fortitude. In the sixth year a battle took place in which it happene

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VI. THE EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHERS IN ITALY

VI. THE EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHERS IN ITALY

Diogenes Laertius tells a story about a youth who, clad in a purple toga, entered the arena at the Olympian games and asked to compete with the other youths in boxing. He was derisively denied admission, presumably because he was beyond the legitimate age for juvenile contestants. Nothing daunted, the youth entered the lists of men, and turned the laugh on his critics by coming off victor. The youth who performed this feat was named Pythagoras. He was the same man, if we may credit the story, wh

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VII. GREEK SCIENCE IN THE EARLY ATTIC PERIOD

VII. GREEK SCIENCE IN THE EARLY ATTIC PERIOD

We have travelled rather far in our study of Greek science, and yet we have not until now come to Greece itself. And even now, the men whose names we are to consider were, for the most part, born in out-lying portions of the empire; they differed from the others we have considered only in the fact that they were drawn presently to the capital. The change is due to a most interesting sequence of historical events. In the day when Thales and his immediate successors taught in Miletus, when the gre

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VIII. POST-SOCRATIC SCIENCE AT ATHENS—PLATO, ARISTOTLE, AND THEOPHRASTUS

VIII. POST-SOCRATIC SCIENCE AT ATHENS—PLATO, ARISTOTLE, AND THEOPHRASTUS

Doubtless it has been noticed that our earlier scientists were as far removed as possible from the limitations of specialism. In point of fact, in this early day, knowledge had not been classified as it came to be later on. The philosopher was, as his name implied, a lover of knowledge, and he did not find it beyond the reach of his capacity to apply himself to all departments of the field of human investigation. It is nothing strange to discover that Anaximander and the Pythagoreans and Anaxago

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IX. GREEK SCIENCE OF THE ALEXANDRIAN OR HELLENISTIC PERIOD

IX. GREEK SCIENCE OF THE ALEXANDRIAN OR HELLENISTIC PERIOD

We are entering now upon the most important scientific epoch of antiquity. When Aristotle and Theophrastus passed from the scene, Athens ceased to be in any sense the scientific centre of the world. That city still retained its reminiscent glory, and cannot be ignored in the history of culture, but no great scientific leader was ever again to be born or to take up his permanent abode within the confines of Greece proper. With almost cataclysmic suddenness, a new intellectual centre appeared on t

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X. SCIENCE OF THE ROMAN PERIOD

X. SCIENCE OF THE ROMAN PERIOD

We have seen that the third century B.C. was a time when Alexandrian science was at its height, but that the second century produced also in Hipparchus at least one investigator of the very first rank; though, to be sure, Hipparchus can be called an Alexandrian only by courtesy. In the ensuing generations the Greek capital at the mouth of the Nile continued to hold its place as the centre of scientific and philosophical thought. The kingdom of the Ptolemies still flourished with at least the out

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XI. A RETROSPECTIVE GLANCE AT CLASSICAL SCIENCE

XI. A RETROSPECTIVE GLANCE AT CLASSICAL SCIENCE

It is a favorite tenet of the modern historian that history is a continuous stream. The contention has fullest warrant. Sharp lines of demarcation are an evidence of man's analytical propensity rather than the work of nature. Nevertheless it would be absurd to deny that the stream of history presents an ever-varying current. There are times when it seems to rush rapidly on; times when it spreads out into a broad—seemingly static—current; times when its catastrophic changes remind us of nothing b

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CHAPTER I. PREHISTORIC SCIENCE

CHAPTER I. PREHISTORIC SCIENCE

Length of the Prehistoric Period.—It is of course quite impossible to reduce the prehistoric period to any definite number of years. There are, however, numerous bits of evidence that enable an anthropologist to make rough estimates as to the relative lengths of the different periods into which prehistoric time is divided. Gabriel de Mortillet, one of the most industrious students of prehistoric archaeology, ventured to give a tentative estimate as to the numbers of years involved in each period

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CHAPTER II. EGYPTIAN SCIENCE

CHAPTER II. EGYPTIAN SCIENCE

1 (p. 34). Sir J. Norman Lockyer, The Dawn of Astronomy; a study of the temple worship and mythology of the ancient Egyptians, London, 1894. 2 (p. 43). G. Maspero, Histoire Ancie-nne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, Paris, 1895. Translated as (1) The Dawn of Civilization, (2) The Struggle of the Nations, (3) The Passing of the Empires, 3 vols., London and New York, 1894-1900. Professor Maspero is one of the most famous of living Orientalists. His most important special studies have to do with

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CHAPTER III. SCIENCE OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

CHAPTER III. SCIENCE OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

1 (p. 57). The Medes. Some difference of opinion exists among historians as to the exact ethnic relations of the conquerors; the precise date of the fall of Nineveh is also in doubt. 2 (p. 57). Darius. The familiar Hebrew narrative ascribes the first Persian conquest of Babylon to Darius, but inscriptions of Cyrus and of Nabonidus, the Babylonian king, make it certain that Cyrus was the real conqueror. These inscriptions are preserved on cylinders of baked clay, of the type made familiar by the

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CHAPTER IV. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ALPHABET

CHAPTER IV. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ALPHABET

1 (p. 87). Vicomte E. de Rouge, Memoire sur l'Origine Egyptienne de l'Alphabet Phinicien, Paris, 1874. 2 (p. 88). See the various publications of Mr. Arthur Evans. 3 (p. 80). Aztec and Maya writing. These pictographs are still in the main undecipherable, and opinions differ as to the exact stage of development which they represent. 4 (p. 90). E. A. Wallace Budge's First Steps in Egyptian, London, 1895, is an excellent elementary work on the Egyptian writing. Professor Erman's Egyptian Grammar, L

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CHAPTER V. THE BEGINNINGS OF GREEK SCIENCE

CHAPTER V. THE BEGINNINGS OF GREEK SCIENCE

1 (p. III). Anaximander, as recorded by Plutarch, vol. VIII-. See Arthur Fairbanks'First Philosophers of Greece: an Edition and Translation of the Remaining Fragments of the Pre-Socratic Philosophers, together with a Translation of the more Important Accounts of their Opinions Contained in the Early Epitomcs of their Works, London, 1898. This highly scholarly and extremely useful book contains the Greek text as well as translations....

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CHAPTER VI. THE EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHERS IN ITALY

CHAPTER VI. THE EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHERS IN ITALY

1 (p. 117). George Henry Lewes, A Biographical History of Philosophy from its Origin in Greece down to the Present Day, enlarged edition, New York, 1888, p. 17. 2 (p. 121). Diogenes Laertius, The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, C. D. Yonge's translation, London, 1853, VIII., p. 153. 3 (p. 121). Alexander, Successions of Philosophers. 4 (p. 122). "All over its centre." Presumably this is intended to refer to the entire equatorial region. 5 (p. 125). Laertius, op. cit., pp. 348-351. 6

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CHAPTER VII. GREEK SCIENCE IN THE EARLY ATTIC PERIOD

CHAPTER VII. GREEK SCIENCE IN THE EARLY ATTIC PERIOD

1 (p. 150). Theodor Gomperz, Greek Thinkers: a History of Ancient Philosophy (translated from the German by Laurie Magnes), New York, 190 1, pp. 220, 221. 2 (p. 153). Aristotle's Treatise on Respiration, ch. ii. 3 (p. 159). Fairbanks' translation of the fragments of Anaxagoras, in The First Philosophers of Greece, pp. 239-243....

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CHAPTER VIII. POST-SOCRATIC SCIENCE AT ATHENS

CHAPTER VIII. POST-SOCRATIC SCIENCE AT ATHENS

1 (p. 180). Alfred William Bern, The Philosophy of Greece Considered in Relation to the Character and History of its People, London, 1898, p. 186. 2 (p. 183). Aristotle, quoted in William Whewell's History of the Inductive Sciences (second edition, London, 1847), Vol. II., p. 161....

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CHAPTER IX. GREEK SCIENCE OF THE ALEXANDRIAN OR HELLENISTIC PERIOD

CHAPTER IX. GREEK SCIENCE OF THE ALEXANDRIAN OR HELLENISTIC PERIOD

2 (p. 205). We quote the quaint old translation of North, printed in 1657....

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CHAPTER X. SCIENCE OF THE ROMAN PERIOD

CHAPTER X. SCIENCE OF THE ROMAN PERIOD

1 (p. 258). The Geography of Strabo, translated by H. C. Hamilton and W. Falconer, 3 vols., London, 1857, Vol. I, pp. 19, 20. 2 (p. 260). Ibid., p. 154. 3 (p. 263). Ibid., pp. 169, 170. 4 (p. 264) Ibid., pp. 166, 167. 5 (p. 271). K. 0. Miller and John W. Donaldson, The History of the Literature of Greece, 3 vols., London, Vol. III., p. 268. 6 (p. 276). E. T. Withington, Medical History fron., the Earliest Times, London, 1894, p. 118. 7 (p. 281). Ibid. 8 (p. 281). Johann Hermann Bass, History of

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CHAPTER XI. A RETROSPECTIVE GLANCE AT CLASSICAL SCIENCE

CHAPTER XI. A RETROSPECTIVE GLANCE AT CLASSICAL SCIENCE

(p. 298). Dion Cassius, as preserved by Xiphilinus. Our extract is quoted from the translation given in The Historians' History of the World (edited by Henry Smith Williams), 25 vols., London and New York, 1904, Vol. VI., p. 297 ff. (For further bibliographical notes, the reader is referred to the Appendix of volume V.)...

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BOOK II. THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN SCIENCE

BOOK II. THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN SCIENCE

The studies of the present book cover the progress of science from the close of the Roman period in the fifth century A.D. to about the middle of the eighteenth century. In tracing the course of events through so long a period, a difficulty becomes prominent which everywhere besets the historian in less degree—a difficulty due to the conflict between the strictly chronological and the topical method of treatment. We must hold as closely as possible to the actual sequence of events, since, as alr

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I. SCIENCE IN THE DARK AGE

I. SCIENCE IN THE DARK AGE

An obvious distinction between the classical and mediaeval epochs may be found in the fact that the former produced, whereas the latter failed to produce, a few great thinkers in each generation who were imbued with that scepticism which is the foundation of the investigating spirit; who thought for themselves and supplied more or less rational explanations of observed phenomena. Could we eliminate the work of some score or so of classical observers and thinkers, the classical epoch would seem a

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II. MEDIAEVAL SCIENCE AMONG THE ARABIANS

II. MEDIAEVAL SCIENCE AMONG THE ARABIANS

The successors of Mohammed showed themselves curiously receptive of the ideas of the western people whom they conquered. They came in contact with the Greeks in western Asia and in Egypt, and, as has been said, became their virtual successors in carrying forward the torch of learning. It must not be inferred, however, that the Arabian scholars, as a class, were comparable to their predecessors in creative genius. On the contrary, they retained much of the conservative oriental spirit. They were

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III. MEDIAEVAL SCIENCE IN THE WEST

III. MEDIAEVAL SCIENCE IN THE WEST

We have previously referred to the influence of the Byzantine civilization in transmitting the learning of antiquity across the abysm of the dark age. It must be admitted, however, that the importance of that civilization did not extend much beyond the task of the common carrier. There were no great creative scientists in the later Roman empire of the East any more than in the corresponding empire of the West. There was, however, one field in which the Byzantine made respectable progress and reg

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IV. THE NEW COSMOLOGY—COPERNICUS TO KEPLER AND GALILEO

IV. THE NEW COSMOLOGY—COPERNICUS TO KEPLER AND GALILEO

We have seen that the Ptolemaic astronomy, which was the accepted doctrine throughout the Middle Ages, taught that the earth is round. Doubtless there was a popular opinion current which regarded the earth as flat, but it must be understood that this opinion had no champions among men of science during the Middle Ages. When, in the year 1492, Columbus sailed out to the west on his memorable voyage, his expectation of reaching India had full scientific warrant, however much it may have been scout

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V. GALILEO AND THE NEW PHYSICS

V. GALILEO AND THE NEW PHYSICS

After Galileo had felt the strong hand of the Inquisition, in 1632, he was careful to confine his researches, or at least his publications, to topics that seemed free from theological implications. In doing so he reverted to the field of his earliest studies—namely, the field of mechanics; and the Dialoghi delle Nuove Scienze, which he finished in 1636, and which was printed two years later, attained a celebrity no less than that of the heretical dialogue that had preceded it. The later work was

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VI. TWO PSEUDO-SCIENCES—ALCHEMY AND ASTROLOGY

VI. TWO PSEUDO-SCIENCES—ALCHEMY AND ASTROLOGY

In recent chapters we have seen science come forward with tremendous strides. A new era is obviously at hand. But we shall misconceive the spirit of the times if we fail to understand that in the midst of all this progress there was still room for mediaeval superstition and for the pursuit of fallacious ideals. Two forms of pseudo-science were peculiarly prevalent—alchemy and astrology. Neither of these can with full propriety be called a science, yet both were pursued by many of the greatest sc

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VII. FROM PARACELSUS TO HARVEY

VII. FROM PARACELSUS TO HARVEY

In the year 1526 there appeared a new lecturer on the platform at the University at Basel—a small, beardless, effeminate-looking person—who had already inflamed all Christendom with his peculiar philosophy, his revolutionary methods of treating diseases, and his unparalleled success in curing them. A man who was to be remembered in after-time by some as the father of modern chemistry and the founder of modern medicine; by others as madman, charlatan, impostor; and by still others as a combinatio

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VIII. MEDICINE IN THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES

VIII. MEDICINE IN THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES

Of the half-dozen surgeons who were prominent in the sixteenth century, Ambroise Pare (1517-1590), called the father of French surgery, is perhaps the most widely known. He rose from the position of a common barber to that of surgeon to three French monarchs, Henry II., Francis II., and Charles IX. Some of his mottoes are still first principles of the medical man. Among others are: "He who becomes a surgeon for the sake of money, and not for the sake of knowledge, will accomplish nothing"; and "

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IX. PHILOSOPHER-SCIENTISTS AND NEW INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING

IX. PHILOSOPHER-SCIENTISTS AND NEW INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING

We saw that in the old Greek days there was no sharp line of demarcation between the field of the philosopher and that of the scientist. In the Hellenistic epoch, however, knowledge became more specialized, and our recent chapters have shown us scientific investigators whose efforts were far enough removed from the intangibilities of the philosopher. It must not be overlooked, however, that even in the present epoch there were men whose intellectual efforts were primarily directed towards the su

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X. THE SUCCESSORS OF GALILEO IN PHYSICAL SCIENCE

X. THE SUCCESSORS OF GALILEO IN PHYSICAL SCIENCE

We have now to witness the diversified efforts of a company of men who, working for the most part independently, greatly added to the data of the physical sciences—such men as Boyle, Huygens, Von Gericke, and Hooke. It will be found that the studies of these men covered the whole field of physical sciences as then understood—the field of so-called natural philosophy. We shall best treat these successors of Galileo and precursors of Newton somewhat biographically, pointing out the correspondences

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XI. NEWTON AND THE COMPOSITION OF LIGHT

XI. NEWTON AND THE COMPOSITION OF LIGHT

Galileo, that giant in physical science of the early seventeenth century, died in 1642. On Christmas day of the same year there was born in England another intellectual giant who was destined to carry forward the work of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo to a marvellous consummation through the discovery of the great unifying law in accordance with which the planetary motions are performed. We refer, of course, to the greatest of English physical scientists, Isaac Newton, the Shakespeare of the sc

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XII. NEWTON AND THE LAW OF GRAVITATION

XII. NEWTON AND THE LAW OF GRAVITATION

We come now to the story of what is by common consent the greatest of scientific achievements. The law of universal gravitation is the most far-reaching principle as yet discovered. It has application equally to the minutest particle of matter and to the most distant suns in the universe, yet it is amazing in its very simplicity. As usually phrased, the law is this: That every particle of matter in the universe attracts every other particle with a force that varies directly with the mass of the

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XIII. INSTRUMENTS OF PRECISION IN THE AGE OF NEWTON

XIII. INSTRUMENTS OF PRECISION IN THE AGE OF NEWTON

During the Newtonian epoch there were numerous important inventions of scientific instruments, as well as many improvements made upon the older ones. Some of these discoveries have been referred to briefly in other places, but their importance in promoting scientific investigation warrants a fuller treatment of some of the more significant. Many of the errors that had arisen in various scientific calculations before the seventeenth century may be ascribed to the crudeness and inaccuracy in the c

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XIV. PROGRESS IN ELECTRICITY FROM GILBERT AND VON GUERICKE TO FRANKLIN

XIV. PROGRESS IN ELECTRICITY FROM GILBERT AND VON GUERICKE TO FRANKLIN

We have seen how Gilbert, by his experiments with magnets, gave an impetus to the study of magnetism and electricity. Gilbert himself demonstrated some facts and advanced some theories, but the system of general laws was to come later. To this end the discovery of electrical repulsion, as well as attraction, by Von Guericke, with his sulphur ball, was a step forward; but something like a century passed after Gilbert's beginning before anything of much importance was done in the field of electric

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XV. NATURAL HISTORY TO THE TIME OF LINNAEUS

XV. NATURAL HISTORY TO THE TIME OF LINNAEUS

Modern systematic botany and zoology are usually held to have their beginnings with Linnaeus. But there were certain precursors of the famous Swedish naturalist, some of them antedating him by more than a century, whose work must not be altogether ignored—such men as Konrad Gesner (1516-1565), Andreas Caesalpinus (1579-1603), Francisco Redi (1618-1676), Giovanni Alfonso Borelli (1608-1679), John Ray (1628-1705), Robert Hooke (1635-1703), John Swammerdam (1637-1680), Marcello Malpighi (1628-1694)

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CHAPTER I

CHAPTER I

(1) (p. 4). James Harvey Robinson, An Introduction to the History of Western Europe, New York, 1898, p. 330. (2) (p. 6). Henry Smith Williams, A Prefatory Characterization of The History of Italy, in vol. IX. of The Historians' History of the World, 25 vols., London and New York, 1904....

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CHAPTER III

CHAPTER III

(1) (p. 47). Etigene Muntz, Leonardo do Vinci, Artist, Thinker, and Man of Science, 2 vols., New York, 1892. Vol. II., p. 73....

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CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER IV

(1) (p. 62). Copernicus, uber die Kreisbewegungen der Welfkorper, trans. from Dannemann's Geschichle du Naturwissenschaften, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1896. (2) (p. 90). Galileo, Dialogo dei due Massimi Systemi del Mondo, trans. from Dannemann, op. cit....

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CHAPTER V

CHAPTER V

GALILEO AND THE NEW PHYSICS (1) (p. 101). Rothmann, History of Astronomy (in the Library of Useful Knowledge), London, 1834. (2) (p. 102). William Whewell, History of the Inductive Sciences, 3 Vols, London, 1847-Vol. II., p. 48. (3) (p. 111). The Lives of Eminent Persons, by Biot, Jardine, Bethune, etc., London, 1833. (4) (p. 113). William Gilbert, De Magnete, translated by P. Fleury Motteley, London, 1893. In the biographical memoir, p. xvi. (5) (p. 114). Gilbert, op. cit., p. x1vii. (6) (p. 11

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CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VI

(1) (p. 125). Exodus xxxii, 20. (2) (p. 126). Charles Mackay, Popular Delusions, 3 vols., London, 1850. Vol. II., p. 280. (3) (p. 140). Mackay, op. cit., Vol. 11., p. 289. (4) (P. 145). John B. Schmalz, Astrology Vindicated, New York, 1898. (5) (p. 146). William Lilly, The Starry Messenger, London, 1645, p. 63. (6) (p. 149). Lilly, op. cit., p. 70. (7) (p. 152). George Wharton, An Astrological judgement upon His Majesty's Present March begun from Oxford, May 7, 1645, pp. 7-10. (8) (p. 154). C. W

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CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VII

(1) (p. 159). A. E. Waite, The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus, 2 vols., London, 1894. Vol. I., p. 21. (2) (p. 167). E. T. Withington, Medical History from the Earliest Times, London, 1894, p. 278. (3) (p. 173). John Dalton, Doctrines of the Circulation, Philadelphia, 1884, p. 179. (4) (p. 174). William Harvey, De Motu Cordis et Sanguinis, London, 1803, chap. X. (5) (p. 178). The Works of William Harvey, translated by Robert Willis, London, 1847, p. 56....

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CHAPTER VIII

CHAPTER VIII

(1) (p. 189). Hermann Baas, History of Medicine, translated by H. E. Henderson, New York, 1894, p. 504. (2) (p. 189). E. T. Withington, Medical History from the Earliest Times, London, 1894, p. 320....

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CHAPTER IX

CHAPTER IX

(1) (p. 193). George L. Craik, Bacon and His Writings and Philosophy, 2 vols., London, 1846. Vol. II., p. 121. (2) (p. 193). From Huxley's address On Descartes's Discourse Touching the Method of Using One's Reason Rightly and of Seeking Scientific Truth. (3) (p. 195). Rene Descartes, Traite de l'Homme (Cousins's edition. in ii vols.), Paris, 1824. Vol, VI., p. 347....

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CHAPTER X

CHAPTER X

(1) (p. 205). See The Phlogiston Theory, Vol, IV. (2) (p. 205). Robert Boyle, Philosophical Works, 3 vols., London, 1738. Vol. III., p. 41. (3) (p. 206). Ibid., Vol. III., p. 47. (4) (p. 206). Ibid., Vol. II., p. 92. (5) (p. 207). Ibid., Vol. II., p. 2. (6) (p. 209). Ibid., Vol. I., p. 8. (7) (p. 209). Ibid., vol. III., p. 508. (8) (p. 210). Ibid., Vol. III., p. 361. (9) (p. 213). Otto von Guericke, in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, No. 88, for 1672, p. 5103. (10)

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CHAPTER XI

CHAPTER XI

(1) (p. 233). Phil. Trans. of Royal Soc. of London, No. 80, 1672, pp. 3076-3079. (2) (p 234). Ibid., pp. 3084, 3085. (3) (p. 235). Voltaire, Letters Concerning the English Nation, London, 1811....

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CHAPTER XII

CHAPTER XII

(1) (p. 242). Sir Isaac Newton, Principia, translated by Andrew Motte, New York, 1848, pp. 391, 392. (2) (p. 250). Newton op. cit., pp. 506, 507....

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CHAPTER XIV

CHAPTER XIV

(1) (p. 274). A letter from M. Dufay, F.R.S. and of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, etc., in the Phil. Trans. of the Royal Soc., vol. XXXVIII., pp. 258-265. (2) (p. 282). Dean von Kleist, in the Danzick Memoirs, Vol. I., p. 407. From Joseph Priestley's History of Electricity, London, 1775, pp. 83, 84. (3) (p. 288). Benjamin Franklin, New Experiments and Observations on Electricity, London, 1760, pp. 107, 108. (4) (p. 291). Franklin, op. cit., pp. 62, 63. (5) (p. 295). Franklin, op. cit.,

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BOOK III. MODERN DEVELOPMENT OF THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES

BOOK III. MODERN DEVELOPMENT OF THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES

With the present book we enter the field of the distinctively modern. There is no precise date at which we take up each of the successive stories, but the main sweep of development has to do in each case with the nineteenth century. We shall see at once that this is a time both of rapid progress and of great differentiation. We have heard almost nothing hitherto of such sciences as paleontology, geology, and meteorology, each of which now demands full attention. Meantime, astronomy and what the

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I. THE SUCCESSORS OF NEWTON IN ASTRONOMY

I. THE SUCCESSORS OF NEWTON IN ASTRONOMY

HEVELIUS AND HALLEY STRANGELY enough, the decade immediately following Newton was one of comparative barrenness in scientific progress, the early years of the eighteenth century not being as productive of great astronomers as the later years of the seventeenth, or, for that matter, as the later years of the eighteenth century itself. Several of the prominent astronomers of the later seventeenth century lived on into the opening years of the following century, however, and the younger generation

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II. THE PROGRESS OF MODERN ASTRONOMY

II. THE PROGRESS OF MODERN ASTRONOMY

A NEW epoch in astronomy begins with the work of William Herschel, the Hanoverian, whom England made hers by adoption. He was a man with a positive genius for sidereal discovery. At first a mere amateur in astronomy, he snatched time from his duties as music-teacher to grind him a telescopic mirror, and began gazing at the stars. Not content with his first telescope, he made another and another, and he had such genius for the work that he soon possessed a better instrument than was ever made bef

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III. THE NEW SCIENCE OF PALEONTOLOGY

III. THE NEW SCIENCE OF PALEONTOLOGY

WILLIAM SMITH AND FOSSIL SHELLS Ever since Leonardo da Vinci first recognized the true character of fossils, there had been here and there a man who realized that the earth's rocky crust is one gigantic mausoleum. Here and there a dilettante had filled his cabinets with relics from this monster crypt; here and there a philosopher had pondered over them—questioning whether perchance they had once been alive, or whether they were not mere abortive souvenirs of that time when the fertile matrix of

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IV. THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN GEOLOGY

IV. THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN GEOLOGY

JAMES HUTTON One might naturally suppose that the science of the earth which lies at man's feet would at least have kept pace with the science of the distant stars. But perhaps the very obviousness of the phenomena delayed the study of the crust of the earth. It is the unattainable that allures and mystifies and enchants the developing mind. The proverbial child spurns its toys and cries for the moon. So in those closing days of the eighteenth century, when astronomers had gone so far towards ex

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V. THE NEW SCIENCE OF METEOROLOGY

V. THE NEW SCIENCE OF METEOROLOGY

METEORITES "An astonishing miracle has just occurred in our district," wrote M. Marais, a worthy if undistinguished citizen of France, from his home at L'Aigle, under date of "the 13th Floreal, year 11"—a date which outside of France would be interpreted as meaning May 3, 1803. This "miracle" was the appearance of a "fireball" in broad daylight—"perhaps it was wildfire," says the naive chronicle—which "hung over the meadow," being seen by many people, and then exploded with a loud sound, scatter

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VI. MODERN THEORIES OF HEAT AND LIGHT

VI. MODERN THEORIES OF HEAT AND LIGHT

THE eighteenth-century philosopher made great strides in his studies of the physical properties of matter and the application of these properties in mechanics, as the steam-engine, the balloon, the optic telegraph, the spinning-jenny, the cotton-gin, the chronometer, the perfected compass, the Leyden jar, the lightning-rod, and a host of minor inventions testify. In a speculative way he had thought out more or less tenable conceptions as to the ultimate nature of matter, as witness the theories

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VII. THE MODERN DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM

VII. THE MODERN DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM

The full importance of Young's studies of light might perhaps have gained earlier recognition had it not chanced that, at the time when they were made, the attention of the philosophic world was turned with the fixity and fascination of a hypnotic stare upon another field, which for a time brooked no rival. How could the old, familiar phenomenon, light, interest any one when the new agent, galvanism, was in view? As well ask one to fix attention on a star while a meteorite blazes across the sky.

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VIII. THE CONSERVATION OF ENERGY

VIII. THE CONSERVATION OF ENERGY

As we have seen, it was in 1831 that Faraday opened up the field of magneto-electricity. Reversing the experiments of his predecessors, who had found that electric currents may generate magnetism, he showed that magnets have power under certain circumstances to generate electricity; he proved, indeed, the interconvertibility of electricity and magnetism. Then he showed that all bodies are more or less subject to the influence of magnetism, and that even light may be affected by magnetism as to i

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IX. THE ETHER AND PONDERABLE MATTER

IX. THE ETHER AND PONDERABLE MATTER

"Whatever difficulties we may have in forming a consistent idea of the constitution of the ether, there can be no doubt that the interplanetary and interstellar spaces are not empty, but are occupied by a material substance or body which is certainly the largest and probably the most uniform body of which we have any knowledge." Such was the verdict pronounced some thirty years ago by James Clerk-Maxwell, one of the very greatest of nineteenth-century physicists, regarding the existence of an al

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BOOK IV. MODERN DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

BOOK IV. MODERN DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

AS regards chronology, the epoch covered in the present volume is identical with that viewed in the preceding one. But now as regards subject matter we pass on to those diverse phases of the physical world which are the field of the chemist, and to those yet more intricate processes which have to do with living organisms. So radical are the changes here that we seem to be entering new worlds; and yet, here as before, there are intimations of the new discoveries away back in the Greek days. The s

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I. THE PHLOGISTON THEORY IN CHEMISTRY

I. THE PHLOGISTON THEORY IN CHEMISTRY

The development of the science of chemistry from the "science" of alchemy is a striking example of the complete revolution in the attitude of observers in the field of science. As has been pointed out in a preceding chapter, the alchemist, having a preconceived idea of how things should be, made all his experiments to prove his preconceived theory; while the chemist reverses this attitude of mind and bases his conceptions on the results of his laboratory experiments. In short, chemistry is what

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II. THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN CHEMISTRY

II. THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN CHEMISTRY

Modern chemistry may be said to have its beginning with the work of Stephen Hales (1677-1761), who early in the eighteenth century began his important study of the elasticity of air. Departing from the point of view of most of the scientists of the time, he considered air to be "a fine elastic fluid, with particles of very different nature floating in it"; and he showed that these "particles" could be separated. He pointed out, also, that various gases, or "airs," as he called them, were contain

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III. CHEMISTRY SINCE THE TIME OF DALTON

III. CHEMISTRY SINCE THE TIME OF DALTON

Small beginnings as have great endings—sometimes. As a case in point, note what came of the small, original effort of a self-trained back-country Quaker youth named John Dalton, who along towards the close of the eighteenth century became interested in the weather, and was led to construct and use a crude water-gauge to test the amount of the rainfall. The simple experiments thus inaugurated led to no fewer than two hundred thousand recorded observations regarding the weather, which formed the b

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IV. ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

IV. ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

An epoch in physiology was made in the eighteenth century by the genius and efforts of Albrecht von Haller (1708-1777), of Berne, who is perhaps as worthy of the title "The Great" as any philosopher who has been so christened by his contemporaries since the time of Hippocrates. Celebrated as a physician, he was proficient in various fields, being equally famed in his own time as poet, botanist, and statesman, and dividing his attention between art and science. As a child Haller was so sickly tha

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V. ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

V. ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

We have seen that the focal points of the physiological world towards the close of the eighteenth century were Italy and England, but when Spallanzani and Hunter passed away the scene shifted to France. The time was peculiarly propitious, as the recent advances in many lines of science had brought fresh data for the student of animal life which were in need of classification, and, as several minds capable of such a task were in the field, it was natural that great generalizations should have com

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VI. THEORIES OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION

VI. THEORIES OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION

When Coleridge said of Humphry Davy that he might have been the greatest poet of his time had he not chosen rather to be the greatest chemist, it is possible that the enthusiasm of the friend outweighed the caution of the critic. But however that may be, it is beyond dispute that the man who actually was the greatest poet of that time might easily have taken the very highest rank as a scientist had not the muse distracted his attention. Indeed, despite these distractions, Johann Wolfgang von Goe

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VII. EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY MEDICINE

VII. EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY MEDICINE

At least two pupils of William Harvey distinguished themselves in medicine, Giorgio Baglivi (1669-1707), who has been called the "Italian Sydenham," and Hermann Boerhaave (1668-1738). The work of Baglivi was hardly begun before his early death removed one of the most promising of the early eighteenth-century physicians. Like Boerhaave, he represents a type of skilled, practical clinitian rather than the abstract scientist. One of his contributions to medical literature is the first accurate desc

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VIII. NINETEENTH-CENTURY MEDICINE

VIII. NINETEENTH-CENTURY MEDICINE

Although Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul, was not lacking in self-appreciation, he probably did not realize that in selecting a physician for his own needs he was markedly influencing the progress of medical science as a whole. Yet so strangely are cause and effect adjusted in human affairs that this simple act of the First Consul had that very unexpected effect. For the man chosen was the envoy of a new method in medical practice, and the fame which came to him through being physician to the F

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IX. THE NEW SCIENCE OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

IX. THE NEW SCIENCE OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

A little over a hundred years ago a reform movement was afoot in the world in the interests of the insane. As was fitting, the movement showed itself first in America, where these unfortunates were humanely cared for at a time when their treatment elsewhere was worse than brutal; but England and France quickly fell into line. The leader on this side of the water was the famous Philadelphian, Dr. Benjamin Rush, "the Sydenham of America"; in England, Dr. William Tuke inaugurated the movement; and

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X. THE NEW SCIENCE OF ORIENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY

X. THE NEW SCIENCE OF ORIENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Conspicuously placed in the great hall of Egyptian antiquities in the British Museum is a wonderful piece of sculpture known as the Rosetta Stone. I doubt if any other piece in the entire exhibit attracts so much attention from the casual visitor as this slab of black basalt on its telescope-like pedestal. The hall itself, despite its profusion of strangely sculptured treasures, is never crowded, but before this stone you may almost always find some one standing, gazing with more or less of disc

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ASPECTS OF RECENT SCIENCE

ASPECTS OF RECENT SCIENCE

STUDENTS of the classics will recall that the old Roman historians were accustomed to detail the events of the remote past in what they were pleased to call annals, and to elaborate contemporary events into so-called histories. Actuated perhaps by the same motives, though with no conscious thought of imitation, I have been led to conclude this history of the development of natural science with a few chapters somewhat different in scope and in manner from the ones that have gone before. These cha

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I. THE BRITISH MUSEUM

I. THE BRITISH MUSEUM

IN the year 1753 a remarkable lottery drawing took place in London. It was authorized, through Parliament, by "his gracious Majesty" King George the Second. Such notables as the archbishop of Canterbury and the lord chancellor of the realm took official interest in its success. It was advertised far and wide—as advertising went in those days—in the Gazette , and it found a host of subscribers. Of the fifty thousand tickets—each costing three pounds—more than four thousand were to be of the class

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II. THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON FOR IMPROVING NATURAL KNOWLEDGE

II. THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON FOR IMPROVING NATURAL KNOWLEDGE

A SESSION OF THE SOCIETY THERE is one scientific institution in London more venerable and more famous even than the British Museum. This, of course, is the Royal Society, a world-famous body, whose charter dates from 1662, but whose actual sessions began at Gresham College some twenty years earlier. One can best gain a present-day idea of this famous institution by attending one of its weekly meetings in Burlington House, Piccadilly—a great, castle-like structure, which serves also as the abode

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III. THE ROYAL INSTITUTION AND THE LOW-TEMPERATURE RESEARCHES

III. THE ROYAL INSTITUTION AND THE LOW-TEMPERATURE RESEARCHES

FOUNDATION AND FOUNDER "GEORGE THE THIRD, by the Grace of God King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc., to all to whom these presents shall come, greeting. Whereas several of our loving subjects are desirous of forming a Public Institution for diffusing the knowledge and facilitating the general introduction of Useful Mechanical Inventions and Improvements; and for teaching, by Courses of Philosophical Lectures and Experiments, the Application of Science to the Com

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IV. SOME PHYSICAL LABORATORIES AND PHYSICAL PROBLEMS

IV. SOME PHYSICAL LABORATORIES AND PHYSICAL PROBLEMS

SIR NORMAN LOCKYER AND SOLAR CHEMISTRY SIR NORMAN LOCKYER is professor of astronomical physics and director of the solar observatory at the Royal College of Science in South Kensington. Here it is that his chief work has been done for some thirty years past. The foundation-stone of that work is spectroscopic study of the sun and stars. In this study Professor Lockyer was a pioneer, and he has for years been recognized as the leader. But he is no mere observer; he is a generalizer as well; and he

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V. THE MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY AT NAPLES

V. THE MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY AT NAPLES

THE AQUARIUM MANY tourists who have gone to Naples within recent years will recall their visit to the aquarium there among their most pleasant experiences. It is, indeed, a place worth seeing. Any Neapolitan will direct you to the beautiful white building which it occupies in the public park close by the water's side. The park itself, statue-guarded and palm-studded, is one of the show-places of the city; and the aquarium building, standing isolated near its centre, is worthy of its surroundings

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VI. ERNST HAECKEL AND THE NEW ZOOLOGY

VI. ERNST HAECKEL AND THE NEW ZOOLOGY

THE DREAM CITY THE train crept on its tortuous way down the picturesque valley of the little Saale. At last we saw, high above us, on a jutting crag, three quaint old castles, in one of which, as we knew from our Baedeker ; Goethe at one time lived. We were entering the region of traditions. Soon we knew we should be passing that famous battle-field on which Napoleon, in 1806, sealed the fate of Germany for a generation. But this spot, as seen from the car window, bore no emblem to distinguish i

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VII. SOME MEDICAL LABORATORIES AND MEDICAL PROBLEMS

VII. SOME MEDICAL LABORATORIES AND MEDICAL PROBLEMS

THE PASTEUR INSTITUTE THE national egotism that characterizes the French mind is not without its compensations. It leads, for example, to the tangible recognition of the merits of the great men of the nation and to the promulgation of their names in many public ways. Thus it would be hard to mention a truly distinguished Frenchman of the older generations whose name has not been given to a street in Paris. Of the men of science thus honored, one recalls off-hand the names of Buffon, Cuvier, Geof

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VII. SOME UNSOLVED SCIENTIFIC PROBLEMS

VII. SOME UNSOLVED SCIENTIFIC PROBLEMS

IN recent chapters we have witnessed a marvellous development in many branches of pure science. In viewing so wonderfully diversified a field, it has of course been impossible to dwell upon details, or even to glance at every minor discovery. At best one could but summarize the broad sweep of progress somewhat as a battle might be described by a distant eye-witness, telling of the general direction of action, of the movements of large masses, the names of leaders of brigades and divisions, but n

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IX. RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT

IX. RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT

THE SCIENTIFIC ATTITUDE OF MIND ANY one who has not had a rigid training in science may advantageously reflect at some length upon the meaning of true scientific induction. Various illustrations in our text are meant to convey the idea that logical thinking consists simply in drawing correct conclusions as to the probable sequence of events in nature. It will soon be evident to any one who carefully considers the subject that we know very little indeed about cause and effect in a rigid acceptanc

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APPENDIX

APPENDIX

A LIST OF SOURCES I.—PERIOD COVERED BY VOLUME I. An ax agoras. See vol. i., p. 240. Archimedes. See vol. i., p. 196. Many of the works of Archimedes are lost, but the following have come down to us: (1) On the Sphere and Cylinder; (2) The Measure of the Circle; (3) Conoids and Spheroids; (4) On Spirals; (5) Equiponderants and Centres of Gravity; (6) The Quadrature of the Parabola; (7) On Bodies Floating in Liquids; (8) The Psammites; (9) A Collection of Lemmas. Aristarchus. See vol. i., p. 212.

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