CHAPTER I 



THE MEANING OF SCIENCE TO MANKIND 



Science is the product of human reason applied to the 

 phenomena of nature. It is, therefore, as old as rational 

 thought. The straight-thinking man was always a scientist. 

 The minor facts of science, which arise from the interpreta- 

 tion of simple phenomena, have been apprehended from the 

 beginning, though not subjected to critical examination. 

 The major facts of science, which are called scientific laws, 

 and conscious analysis of the methods by which such laws 

 are discovered have been acquired within the period of re- 

 corded history. Comprehending at last the meaning of 

 natural knowledge, man has discovered during the recent 

 centuries, the network of relationships which constitutes 

 modern science. But the foundations of science have 

 existed since the dawn of rationality. 



Organized science, although it seems so recent a product of 

 the human understanding, may be recognized in its begin- 

 nings at an earlier time than is commonly supposed. Reason 

 is constantly striving to bring order out of seeming chaos. 

 This undertaking is not of recent origin. Stripped of their 

 purely mythological features, primitive cosmogonies are 

 comparable to the larger groupings of fact which characterize 

 modern scientific knowledge. Those who believed the earth 

 to be flat were making what was essentially a scientific 

 generalization, so long as it conformed to the appearance of 

 things. Among the Egyptians, the Babylonians, and related 

 peoples, the germs of the physical, astronomical, mathemat- 

 ical, and medical sciences made their appearance at an early 

 date. Among the ancient Greeks, the scientific spirit is 

 discernible, despite the limitations imposed by ignorance, 

 superstition, and unbridled speculation. Among the Euro- 



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