20 HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF SCIENCE 



noted during the millenium which follows. Fire, implements, 

 and finally domesticated animals and plants had been the 

 great achievements of the human race during the ages of 

 stone. Metals, writing, and government were the more im- 

 portant achievements in the early advance of the Egyptians 

 toward civilization. The extensive domestication and 



specialization of a wide range of animal 

 and plant life are examples of a prac- 

 tical knowledge which was the begin- 

 ning of biological science. In medi- 

 cine, the Egyptians excelled all other 

 ancient peoples. Only the study and 

 treatment of mental diseases seem to 

 have been neglected. The earliest 

 known machine is an Egyptian crank- 

 drill invented before 3000 b. c. (Fig. 

 6). The potter's wheel was of similar 

 early origin. The ox-drawn plow arose 

 as a modification of the peasant's hoe. 

 For a long time the advance was 

 gradual. But with the opening of the 

 Pyramid Age (3000-2500 b. c.) there 

 appears a single century, which, alone 



Fig. 6. The Earliest Known j; ,. & . . . \ , . 



Machine. An Egyptian ot all the centuries, is comparable to 

 crank drill, about 3400 our nineteenth century in its mechani- 



liafipit cal achievement. In 3050 b. c, the 

 Borchardt in Breast- first stone masonry had not been laid. 

 e '' Less than one hundred and fifty years 



later the great pyramid of Gizeh was under construction. 

 The transition from barbarism thus culminated suddenly in 

 this "Wonderful Century" of the ancient world. The pyra- 

 mids and other architectural productions of the Egyptians are 

 important as indications of the perfection of their mechanical 

 skill. A marvelous manual dexterity is exhibited, alike by 

 their sculpture, their architecture, and their craftsmanship. 

 The earliest sea-going ships appear in the 30th century b. c. 



iv 



