CHAPTER V 

 GREEK SCIENCE IN ALEXANDRIA 



There is an astonishing imagination, even in the science of mathe- 

 matics. . . . We repeat, there was far more imagination in the head 

 of Archimedes than in that of Homer. - - Voltaire. 



If the Greeks had not cultivated Conic Sections, Kepler could not 

 have superseded Ptolemy; if the Greeks had cultivated Dynamics, 

 Kepler might have anticipated Newton. - - Whewell. 



If we compare a mathematical problem with an immense rock, 

 whose interior we wish to penetrate, then the work of the Greek 

 mathematicians appears to us like that of a robust stonecutter, who, 

 with indefatigable perseverance, attempts to demolish the rock 

 gradually from the outside by means of hammer and chisel ; but the 

 modern mathematician resembles an expert miner, who first con- 

 structs a few passages through the rock and then explodes it with a 

 single blast, bringing to light its inner treasures. Hankel. 



THE MUSEUM AT ALEXANDRIA. - - The subjugation of Greece 

 by Alexander the Great in 330 B.C. checked the further develop- 

 ment of Greek civilization on its native soil. After Alexander's 

 death in 323, his vast empire was divided among his generals, and 

 Alexandria, the new Egyptian capital, fell to the lot of Ptolemy. 

 The city as such was then barely ten years old, but very soon 

 became, under the rule of the Ptolemies, the centre of the learned 

 world. By 300 B.C. the Museum (Seat of the Muses) was 

 founded, becoming in effect a veritable university of Greek learning. 

 To this were attached a great library, a dining hall, and lecture- 

 rooms for professors. Here for the next 700 years Greek science 

 had its chief abiding place. The fame of Alexandria soon out- 

 shone and eventually eclipsed that of Athens, while Romans 

 journeyed from Rome never important in ancient times as a 



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