136 THE LIFE OF SCIENCE 



the East came the light, from the West, law! This aphorism con- 

 tains a good deal of truth and might be chosen as the motto of my 

 essay. 



Let me say right away that my aim is to show the immense 

 contributions which Eastern people made to our civilization, even 

 if our idea of civilization is focused upon science. We are used 

 to thinking of our civilization as western, we continually oppose our 

 western ways to the eastern ways, and we have sometimes the 

 impression that the opposition is irreducible. 



"Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall 

 meet." 



Now that impression is false, and as it is likely to do consider- 

 able mischief in both East and West, it is worthwhile to disclose 

 the error as fully as possible. However divided it may be with 

 regard to material interests and other trifles, mankind is essen- 

 tially united with regard to its main purpose. East and West are 

 often opposed one to the other, but not necessarily so, and it is 

 wiser to consider them as two visages, or let us say, as two moods 

 of the same man. 



Ex oriente lux! There is no doubt whatever that our earliest 

 scientific knowledge is of oriental origin. As to the possible 

 Chinese and Hindu origins we cannot say much that is definite, 

 but, on the contrary, with regard to Mesopotamia and Egypt we 

 are on very solid ground. 



For example, as early as the middle of the fourth millennium 

 before Christ the Egyptians were already acquainted with a 

 decimal system of numbers. In an inscription of that time there is 

 reference to 120,000 captives, 400,000 oxen, and 1,422,000 goats, 

 each decimal unit being represented by a special symbol. By the 

 middle of the following millennium Sumerians had developed a 

 highly technical system of accounting. The astronomical knowl- 

 edge of these people was equally remarkable. The Egyptian calen- 

 dar of 365 days was established in 4241 b.c. Babylonians accumu- 

 lated planetary observations for astrological purposes: e.g., 

 elaborate observations of Venus go back to the twentieth cen- 



