Chapter IV 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE 

 SCIENTIFIC METHOD 



Having considered die nature of the scientific method, let 

 us return to the course of human history and study the origin 

 of that sudden change in the seventeenth century, from which 

 came the developments in technology and science that have 

 changed the life of man. W^e have seen that if we judge the 

 level of civilization by its accomplishments and, particularly, 

 by the arts of sculpture and architecture, of which the prod- 

 ucts of many generations of men are available, it appears to 

 move in cycles. 



At the beginning of a cycle, the sculpture and architecture 

 are primitive or, to use the more appropriate term, archaic. 

 Gradually the artists improve in the freedom of their style 

 until a point of high excellence is reached; then degenera- 

 tion sets in, the style becomes overornate or formalized, and 

 finally we are justified in speaking of decadence. Yet, while 

 these cycles recur age after age, varying greatly in details and 

 in the changes which are of importance in each cycle, there 

 has been a definite progress in the knowledge and technical 

 skill of men. This progress is due to the slow accumulation 

 of technology and even slower accumulation of scientific 

 knowledge. This slow growth, however, has accelerated 

 greatly at certain historical periods. Perhaps the traditional 

 account of the knowledge of Imhotep, vizier of Zoser, the 

 outstanding king of the Third Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, is 

 a memory of one of those periods. Imhotep was so greatly 

 revered that he was deified as the patron god of learning and 



was eventually identified with Asklepios, the Greek god of 



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