366 HISTORY OF SCIENCE. 



HISTORY OF SCIENCE. 



Sarton, George, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Associate in the History of 

 Science. (For previous reports see Year Books Nos. 18-20.) 



The general purpose of my work was set forth in my first report (Year 

 Book No. 18, pp. 347 to 349). The present (fourth) report covers the 

 period from September 1, 1921, to August 31, 1922. 



1. Introduction to the History and Philosophy of Science. — This work 

 is progressing well, though slowly. I have now reached the thirteenth cen- 

 tury. A large quantity of notes relative to the development of science 

 and civilization from the ninth century B. C. to the thirteenth century 

 after Christ are completed, subject to addition and correction. To write 

 the chapters dealing with these centuries will now be a relatively easy task. 

 It will suffice to edit these notes, to place them in the proper order, and 

 to compose for each century a special introduction, with synoptic and chrono- 

 logic tables. 1 



2. The publication of Isis. — As pointed out in last year's report (Year 

 Book No. 20, pp. 426 to 427), the publication of Isis is less a separate under- 

 taking than a by-product of my main work. The writing of my Introduction 

 obliges me to be familiar with all the latest research on the subject and to 

 remain in touch with scholars who devote their lives to such investigations. 

 Instead of keeping to myself the vast amount of information which I thus 

 collect, I publish it regularly in Isis. The Introduction and Isis will eventu- 

 ally complete one another. 



During the past annual period I have edited two numbers of Isis, Nos. 10 

 and 11 (t. iv, pp. 1-453). They contain 9 papers, 8 shorter communications, 

 82 reviews, and 1,163 bibliographic notes covering 152 pages (on the aver- 

 age, lyi notes to a page). Some of these notes have been contributed by 

 J. L. E. Dreyer (Oxford), L. Guinet (Brussels), L. C. Karpinski (Ann Arbor), 

 and P. Masson-Oursel (Paris). It may be reasonably assumed that the longer 

 reviews and the shorter notes taken together constitute a fair survey of the 

 main investigations devoted to the history and philosophy of science and the 

 history of civilization, recently published (i. e., down to October 1921). It 

 should be noted, however, that this bibliography is selective, critical, and 

 synthetic, 2 a method which is the more necessary in the present case, the 

 number of futile and worthless papers and books being very great. My aim 

 is, on the one hand, to discourage as much as possible the writing of such papers 

 and books, and, on the other hand, to focus the readers' attention upon the 

 more valuable contributions, the fruits of honest and intelligent research. 



3. The New Humanism. — My efforts to promote the study of the history of 

 science and to explain the ideals of the new humanism (that is, the recon- 

 ciliation of the scientific with the humanistic spirit) are not divergent, but 

 convergent; they are but two aspects of the same activity. That is natural 

 enough, for the history of science is the backbone of the new humanism. It 

 stands in the same relation to the latter as the history of Greek and Latin 

 literatures stood to the humanism of the Renaissance. 



^or further information, see Isis, vol. tv, 23-31, 1922. 



2 For an explanation of this, see Isis, vol. in, 159-170, 1920. 



