SCIENCE AND SOCIAL PROGRESS 243 



hand, young societies which are active are likely to show an interest in 

 science before they make any headway in the production of the fine 

 arts. The appearance of art requires an economic condition which pro- 

 duces luxury, and a social condition which will stimulate the emotional 

 life; while science requires economic progress which will stimulate the 

 useful arts and a social condition which will emancipate the mind from 

 the domination of the past. 



The discussion thus far has been confined to the origin and effects 

 of positive knowledge in general; it now remains to consider the more 

 detailed effects upon progress of the separate sciences. The origin, 

 or at least the early development of the sciences, may in almost every 

 case be traced to an attempt to improve the arts or to obtain some 

 specific object, and the chief service to society of these sciences has 

 usually been in solving those very problems which gave them their 

 origin. A brief account therefore of the beginnings of the leading 

 sciences will open the way to a discussion of their effects upon social 

 progress. 



Astronomy was one of the oldest sciences to take definite form, 

 originating it is thought in Egypt or Chaldea, although China has very 

 old astronomical records. In Egypt the study of astronomy was prob- 

 ably first stimulated by the phenomenon of the overflow of the Nile, 

 upon which Egyptian civilization depended. The exact time of this 

 phenomenon was a matter of importance and the passage of time was 

 most easily marked by the movement of the stars. The first study of 

 the heavenly bodies, made in order to mark the passage of time, soon 

 led to a more detailed study for another purpose. It was noted that 

 the Nile began to rise with the heliacal rising of Sirius. This coinci- 

 dence was easily mistaken for cause and effect and if Sirius had such 

 an extraordinary influence upon the affairs of men, the conclusion 

 naturally followed that other stars must also have their influences. To 

 ascertain the amount and character of these influences led to the study 

 of astro log) 7 , which held man's attention for so long and enlarged con- 

 siderably our knowledge of the heavenly bodies. In both Chaldea and 

 China the desire to measure time accurately, as well as the wish to 

 forecast the future, caused a careful study of the heavenly bodies. In 

 Phoenicia the peculiar stimulus to the study of astronomy appears to 

 have been the desire to obtain an accurate guide for traveling either by 

 sea or land. The accurate marking of time, the requirements of travel 

 and the desire to know the future were therefore the chief incentives for 

 the study of astronomy, and the first two have been of continual service 

 to society at all times. 



The fact is worth noting that astronomy developed first in desert 

 countries where the air is clear and the stars are easily visible the greater 

 part of the time ; in pastoral countries, too, where shepherds could follow 



