X Preface 



qualified to discuss the history of science if he lacks any kind of scientific training, 

 and the most distinguished men of science are unqualified if they lack historical 

 sense and philosophical wisdom. Good intentions are never enough, and they are 

 not more acceptable by themselves in this field than in any other. There are but 

 few historians of science completely qualified for the task of teaching it ( the whole 

 of it) today, but it is possible and even easy to create more of them. That is simply 

 a matter of training, a training different from the other kinds of scientific or historical 

 training, but not more difficult. As the need of the new kind of scholars increases, 

 the necessary training will be better organized, and more historians of science will 

 be ready to cultivate the new field, and in their turn to train other investigators, 

 perhaps better ones than they are themselves. 



To conclude, I wish to thank the scholars and men of science who sponsored my 

 European lectures: first of all. Professor Herbert Dingle of University College, 

 London, then, Prof. F. Moreau, President of the Societe beige d' Astronomic and 

 M. Paxil Ver Eecke, President of the Comite beige d'histoire des sciences in Brus- 

 sels; Prof. Franz de Backer of the University of Ghent and Major-general Dr. 

 Irenee Van der Ghinst* of the medical service of the Belgian army, Prof. Armand 

 Delatte and Henri Fredericq of the University of Liege, Professor Gaston Bache- 

 lard of the Sorbonne, Professor Maurice Janet of the Faculte des Sciences of Paris, 

 president of the Societe mathematique de France, Professor Andre Mayer of the 

 College de France, M. Henri Berr, president of the Foundation "Pour la Science" 

 and of the Centre International de Synthese, Professor Pierre Sergescu, president 

 of the International Academy of the History of Science, and his predecessor Professor 

 Arnold Reymond, of the University of Lausanne. My thanks are due also to 

 many other men and women who made the accomplishment of my task more easy 

 and more pleasant, in their several countries, but it is impossible to name them all 

 here and now. I am very grateful to all of them, and this book is published in part 

 to express my gratitude and to justify their confidence in me. 



The three lectures of Part I have already appeared in French translation, the 

 first and third in the Archives Internationales d'Histoire des Sciences (no. 5, p. 10-31, 

 Paris 1948; no. 10, p. 3-38, 1950), the second in the Revue d'Histoire des Sciences 

 (vol. 2, p. 101-38, Paris 1949). These translations written by myself during a vaca- 

 tion in Switzerland and Belgium are relatively free. As I was my own translator, I 

 could take liberties with the text without the risk of betraying myself. 



The brief bibliographic guide which constitutes the second part of this book 

 was enriched by my friend. Dr. Claudius F. Mayer, Editor of the Index Catalogue, 

 Chief Medical Officer of the Army Medical Library in Washington. Not only did 

 he fill many gaps passim, but he rewrote Chapter 11 dealing with General Scientific 

 Journals, added Chapter 12 enumerating the main Abstracting Journals, and enlarged 

 considerably Chapter 20 on the Journals and Serials devoted to the History of 

 Science. 



The proofs of the whole book were kindly read by Mrs. Jean P, Brockhurst 

 and Mrs. Frans Verdoorn who suggested many corrections. 



The chapters dealing respectively with publications, societies, museums, insti- 

 tutes are bound to include duplications, because research, collections, exhibitions, 

 publications are but different functions of the same entities. These duplications do 

 not matter. Omissions are more serious; some are deliberate, others, maybe the 

 worst ones, are not. 



The citing title, Horus, was chosen for the sake of convenience. Such a title 

 should be as brief as possible; the briefer it is the easier it is to refer to the book. In 

 this case, it will not even be necessary to mention the author's name; it will suffice to 

 say "Horus, p. 145," or "Horus 145," without ambiguity. A name should be brief, 

 but it should not be arbitrary. Horus was the son of Isis and Osiris; this book is 

 the offspring of the two serials, Isis and Osiris, a collection of fifty volumes. It has 

 many of the defects as well as the qualities of its parents. What could be more 

 natural and more justified than to call it Horus? 



* My old friend, Irenee Van der Ghinst, born in Bruges 1884, died at Watermael, near 

 Brussels, on 30 April 1949. 



