To Teach the History of Science? 49 



even Montucla's history of mathematics ( which was in reahty a history 

 of mathematical and physical sciences ) ,^^ the first modern history is the 

 history of the inductive sciences by the Reverend William Whewell ( 3 

 vols., London 1837), a book which maintained the dignity of a classic 

 in English libraries and colleges during the whole of the Victorian age 

 and even beyond.^^ Now this work was curiously built, and it is instruc- 

 tive to examine its structure. It is divided into 18 books. The first 5, 

 constituting volume 1, deal respectively with: (1) Greek philosophy; (2) 

 Greek physics; (3) Greek astronomy (the final section of which is en- 

 titled Arabic Astronomy, or From Ptolemy to Copernicus; all that in 10 

 pages); (4) Mediaeval Physics; (5) Formal astronomy after the station- 

 ary period, or From Copernicus to Kepler. Volume 2 bearing the sub- 

 title "mechanical sciences" is also divided into 5 chapters, that is (6) 

 Mechanics; (7) Astronomy; (8) Acoustics; (9) Optics; (10) Thermotics 

 and atmology, i.e., the study of heat and vapors. The subdivision of 

 volume 3 is more complicated. That volume deals with 8 sciences, di- 

 vided into 6 groups. The subdivision will appear more clearly, if we 

 begin a new paragraph for each group. 



The mechanico-chemical sciences: (11) Electricity; (12) Magnetism; 

 (13) Galvanism or Voltaic electricity (last pages 98-101, transition to 

 chemical science). 



The analytical science: (14) Chemistry. 



The analytico-classificatory science: (15) Mineralogy and crystal- 

 lography. 



Classificatory sciences : (16) Systematic botany and zoology. 



Organical sciences: (17) Physiology and comparative anatomy. 



The palaetiological sciences: (18) Geology. 



There would be much more to say about Whewell's cumbrous and 

 artificial classification, but that would lead us too far afield. It will suf- 

 fice to remark that Whewell's purpose was philosophical rather than 

 historical. The master of Trinity was following in the footsteps of Fran- 

 cis Bacon and was dreaming of "a renovation of sound philosophy di- 

 rected by the light which the history of science sheds" ( his own Preface, 



^* George Sarton: Montucla (Osiris 1, 519-67, 12 figs., 1936). 



^ Whewell's History was published in the very year of the Queen's accession. 

 Its influence was considerable in the English world, much less so, I think, on the 

 Continent. It is true it was translated into German (by the astronomer, J. J. v. 

 LiTTROW, Stuttgart 1840-41 ) but not into French. I seldom noticed references to 

 it in Continental books. Though I bought a copy of it as early as 1911 (I have just 

 examined it ) , I must confess that I have never read it, or much of it. Indeed, when 

 I began my own studies, better books were available. I owe a debt to Whewell's 

 book, however, the telhng of which may amuse the reader. My first opportunity for 

 teaching the history of science in the United States occurred in 1915 when I was 

 invited to lecture at the summer school of the University of Illinois in Urbana. That 

 invitation was extended to me thanks to the Carnegie Endowment for International 

 Peace and to the personal interest of Mr. Edmund Janes James (1855-1925), who 

 was then president of that University. Mr. James showed much kindness to me, 

 which I remember with gratitude. He had been trained as an economist; he told 

 me that his interest in the history of science, and indirectly in me, was due to his 

 reading Whewell's book, which by that time I myself had almost forgotten. 



