ORIGINS OF SCIENCE IN THE ANCIENT WORLD 39 



and speculative. Mechanical inventions were developed in 

 many instances, but Rome more and more neglected the 

 aspects of Hellenic learning which might have advanced 

 science. Compendiums were produced during the later 

 empire, containing information regarding arithmetic, geom- 

 etry, astronomy, and the like. The knowledge of nature, 

 accumulated in Greece, passed over into Italy and through- 

 out the Roman Empire. But the creative scientific spirit 

 did not flourish. The elder Pliny illustrates the Roman 

 mind in its scientific development. His work upon natural 

 history exhibits a lively interest in biological nature, but also 

 the borrowing by which the intellectual life of Rome sus- 

 tained itself from that of Greece. 



Many individuals, who attained distinction in intellectual 

 lines during the Roman Period, were not of Roman stock. 

 Galen the Roman physician, whose knowledge of human 

 anatomy dominated Europe throughout the Middle Ages, 

 was a Greek by birth and not a Roman, although resident 

 in Rome during his later years. He was, moreover, trained 

 to dissection at Alexandria and in the rival center of medical 

 learning at Pergamum, a Greek city of Asia Minor. He 

 became a worthy successor to Hippocrates. Ptolemy of 

 Alexandria (c. 127-151 a. d.), also a Greek rather than a 

 Roman, became an authority in astronomy and geography, 

 whose hold was only loosened by the Copernican Theory 

 and by the voyages of discovery. We have already described 

 the Museum of Alexandria, founded before the Roman 

 conquest and continuing in existence during the first four 

 centuries of the present era. The inception and later con- 

 tinuation of this institution were alike the product of Greek 

 and not of Roman genius, although its progress was not 

 discouraged by the Roman culture. Its domination by 

 scholars of Greek descent, illustrates the persistence of 

 Hellenic influences. 



The practical scientific accomplishments of the Romans 

 are seen in their adaptation and development of practical 



