DECLINE OF ALEXANDRIAN SCIENCE 139 



surrendered to the Mohammedan conquerors of Alexandria A.D. 

 641. By them it is kept from extinction until in later ages it is 

 once more fanned to ever increasing radiance in western Europe. 

 In attempting a retrospective estimate of Greek science it is 

 fundamentally important to judge the whole background fairly. 

 In science the Greeks had to build from the foundations. Other 

 peoples had extensive knowledge and highly developed arts. Only 

 among the Greeks existed the true scientific method with its char- 

 acteristics of free inquiry, rational interpretation, verification or 

 rectification by systematic and repeated observation, and con- 

 trolled deduction from accepted principles. 



The Assyrians, Babylonians and Egyptians had certainly made 

 great progress in the use of mechanical devices for moving heavy loads, 

 in the construction of scales, and of pumps. Their measuring in- 

 struments were well developed, and acute observations were made, 

 but of systematic, scientific investigation there is no evidence. The 

 Greeks received many results and suggestions from Asia Minor, Meso- 

 potamia, and Egypt, but their achievements are essentially their own. 



Wiedemann. 



In asking ourselves why these extraordinary beginnings seemed 

 after a time to lose their power of continued development, we must 

 not forget the effect of external conditions. It is conceivable 

 indeed that scientific progress should continue from age to age, 

 through the genius of individual teachers and students, regardless 

 of political and social conditions. Such, however, is not the 

 historic fact. For progress in science men of genius are indis- 

 pensable, but in no country or age have they alone been able to 

 make science flourish under conditions so unfavorable as were 

 those of the early centuries of the Christian era. 



Greek science, however, did not " fail," learned and elaborate 

 as are the explanations that have been given of its alleged failure. 

 Under "the chill breath of Roman autocracy" its growth was in- 

 deed checked, its animation suspended, for a full thousand years. 

 Then in the Renaissance it renewed its vitality and has ever since 

 been advancing more and more magnificently. This is not to say 



