3. THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



The history of science is the study of the development of science, 

 — just as one studies the development of a plant or an animal — 

 from its very birth. We try to see it grow and unfold itself under 

 many diverse conditions. And it is not enough — as we shall see 

 further on — to study separately the development of each science; 

 one has to study the development of all the sciences simultane- 

 ously. Besides, it is impossible to separate them satisfactorily one 

 from the other; they grow together and mingle continually in 

 innumerable ways. 



While numberless books, many of them excellent, are published 

 every year on the history of literature, of art, of religions, how is 

 it that there is not yet a single history of science that can be com- 

 pared with the best of them? When so many institutions, libraries, 

 lectureships have been dedicated to the history of everything, 

 how is it that the history of science has been so much neglected? 



People who have no knowledge of science, or but slight, are 

 afraid of it. They are not inclined to read a book dealing with 

 the history of science, because they think they are not equal to 

 appreciating it. Now this is a mistake: every intelligent man or 

 woman can understand the development of science, at least if it 

 be properly presented and taken from the beginning. More than 

 that, I am convinced that the historical method is the best for con- 

 veying scientific facts and ideas to unprepared minds and to make 

 them thoroughly understandable — at least that is so in the case 

 of grown-up people. On the other hand, those who know science 

 — or are supposed to know it because they have made a special 

 study in some narrow field — are often given to viewing history 

 with contempt. They think that the study of history is hopelessly 

 inaccurate and, according to their own definition of science, un- 

 scientific. This is another mistake, which, however, it would take 

 too long to refute completely. Suffice it to say that historical stud- 



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