An Introduction to the History of Science

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Transcriber's note:

      Every effort has been made to replicate this text as
      faithfully as possible. Some changes have been made.
      They are listed at the end of the text, apart from
      some changes of puctuation in the Index.

      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).

      Characters enclosed by curly braces are subscripts
      (example: H{2}O).

      Dalton's symbols for the elements have been represented
      as follows:

      White circle              ( )  Hydrogen
      Circle with vertical bar  (|)  Nitrogen
      Circle with central dot   (·)  Oxygen
      Black cirle               (*)  Carbon





AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE

by

WALTER LIBBY, M.A., Ph.D.

Professor of the History of Science
in the Carnegie Institute of Technology







[Illustration]

Boston New York Chicago
Houghton Mifflin Company
The Riverside Press Cambridge

Copyright, 1917, by Walter Libby
All Rights Reserved

The Riverside Press
Cambridge. Massachusetts
U . S . A




     TO MY STUDENTS OF THE LAST TWELVE YEARS IN THE CHICAGO AND
     PITTSBURGH DISTRICTS THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED IN FURTHERANCE OF THE
     ENDEAVOR TO INCULCATE A DEMOCRATIC CULTURE, EVER MINDFUL OF THE
     DAILY TASK, NOT ALTOGETHER IGNORANT OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE PAST




PREFACE


The history of science has something to offer to the humblest
intelligence. It is a means of imparting a knowledge of scientific facts
and principles to unschooled minds. At the same time it affords a simple
method of school instruction. Those who understand a business or an
institution best, as a contemporary writer on finance remarks, are those
who have made it or grown up with it, and the next best thing is to know
how it has grown up, and then watch or take part in its actual working.
Generally speaking, we know best what we know in its origins.

The history of science is an aid in scientific research. It places the
student in the current of scientific thought, and gives him a clue to
the purpose and necessity of the theories he is required to master. It
presents science as the constant pursuit of truth rather than the
formulation of truth long since revealed; it shows science as
progressive rather than fixed, dynamic rather than static, a growth to
which each may contribute. It does not paralyze the self-activity of
youth by the record of an infallible past.

It is only by teaching the sciences in their historical development that
the schools can be true to the two principles of modern education, that
the sciences should occupy the foremost place in the curriculum and that
the individual mind in its evolution should rehearse the history of
civilization.

The history of science should be given a larger place than at present in
general history; for, as Bacon said, the history of the world without a
history of learning is like a statue of Polyphemus with the eye out. The
history of science studies the past for the sake of the future. It is a
story of continuous progress. It is rich in biographical material. It
shows the sciences in their interrelations, and saves the student from
narrowness and premature specialization. It affords a unique approach to
the study of philosophy. It gives new motive to the study of foreign
languages. It gives an interest in the applications of knowledge, offers
a clue to the complex civilization of the present, and renders the mind
hospitable to new discoveries and inventions.

The history of science is hostile to the spirit of caste. It shows the
sciences rising from daily needs and occupations, formulated by
philosophy, enriching philosophy, giving rise to new industries, which
react in turn upon the sciences. The history of science reveals men of
all grades of intelligence and of all social ranks coöperating in the
cause of human progress. It is a basis of intellectual and social
homogeneity.

Science is international, English, Germans, French, Italians,
Russians--all nations--contributing to advance the general interests.
Accordingly, a survey of the sciences tends to increase mutual respect,
and to heighten the humanitarian sentiment. The history of science can
be taught to people of all creeds and colors, and cannot fail to enhance
in the breast of every young man, or woman, faith in human progress and
good-will to all mankind.

This book is intended as a simple introduction, taking advantage of the
interests of youth of from seventeen to twenty-two years of age (and
their intellectual compeers) in order to direct their attention to the
story of the development of the sciences.