HISTORY. 



James, Herman G., University of Texas, Austin, Texas. Preparation of a 

 monographic study of the government of Brazil. 



In continuation of a plan for various studies of the governments of South 

 American Repubhcs, the Institution having already issued a volume entitled 

 Federal Systejn of the Argentine Republic, by Dr. L. S. Rowe, Dr. James went 

 to Brazil in June 1922 for the purpose of undertaking, at first hand, a study of 

 the constitutional government of that country. He was successful in making 

 desirable contacts with Brazilian officials and in obtaining access to all avail- 

 able works on the constitutional history and law of Brazil. He furthermore 

 had the advantage of submitting his completed manuscript to Dr. Araujo 

 Castro, one of the foremost authorities on Brazilian public law, and of dis- 

 cussing with him various aspects of his treatise. 



HISTORY OF SCIENCE. 



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

 science. (For previous reports see Year Books Nos. 18-21.) 



The present (fifth) report covers from Sept. 1, 1922, to Aug. 31, 1923. 



1 . Introduction to the History and Philosophy of Science. — The greatest part 

 of my time is devoted to the preparation of this introduction. I have now 

 reached the fourteenth century, but I had to spend considerable time during 

 the last year in correcting and completing previous notes. At this time I may 

 be permitted to review what has been done. I have written 1,248 notes 

 (ranging from a few hundred to many thousand words) dealing with the most 

 prominent men of science and scholars and the most significant anonymous 

 works down to the end of the thirteenth century.' These 1,248 scientists may 

 be divided into four main groups according to the languages which they used : 

 (1) Greek, Syriac, Armenian, etc., corresponding to the ancient Greek world 

 and to Eastern Christendom, 362; (2) Latin and European vernaculars, cor- 

 responding to Western Christendom, 373; (3) Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, 

 Persian, corresponding to Israel and Islam, 324; (4) Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese, 

 and Japanese, corresponding to India, Central Asia, and the Far East, 189. 



Some readers may be surprised that the numbers relative to the first three 

 divisions are very close to one another (362, 373, 324) and that the one relative 

 to the fourth, 189, is not so distant from the others as they might have thought. 

 This will help them to realize that the traditions bequeathed by classical 

 antiquity do not by any means form the whole of our intellectual heritage. 



The compass of my investigations is well illustrated by the two annexed 

 diagrams. In both of them, the abscissas indicate successive centuries, from 

 the ninth before Christ to the thirteenth of our era, while the ordinates 

 indicate numbers of scientists. These diagrams represent the progress of 

 thought, but only to a certain extent, because the number of great scientists 

 and scholars flourishing at any period is but one indication among others of 

 its intellectual activity. The importance of some of these scientists is im- 

 measurably greater than that of others. If it were possible to give them 

 definite weights or coefficients before adding them up, the parts of the curve 

 relative to ancient Greece, for example, would be much higher. Besides, the 



* I have not taken into account my notes on the fourteenth century because my study of that 

 century is not yet finished. 



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