Chapter X 

 THE PATH OF SCIENCE 



In the early chapters of this book, we followed the growth 

 of human civilization. We saw in the history of that giowth 

 the mountins: knowledsie of science, visible first as the ration- 

 alization of technology and then pursued for its own sake. It 

 was found convenient to represent the history of civilization 

 as a helix, in which the cyclic structure discernible in the arts 

 is shown in the coils, and the cumulative giow th of knowl- 

 edge is shown as the vertical component. It will be recalled 

 that at the beginning the vertical component was small and 

 the coils, representing the cycles of civilization, lay closely 

 upon one another. With the coming of the Graeco-Roman 

 culture, organized knowledge developed, and in the seven- 

 teenth century, after the invention of printing and the dis- 

 covery of the experimental method, modern science came into 

 existence. At the present time, the progress of science is so 

 rapid that it dominates the whole world picture and chal- 

 lenges the ability of the leaders of mankind to meet the social 

 changes that it produces. 



As we follow the path of science through the ages, ^ve can 

 note certain points at which the scientific method was applied 

 to a new group of the problems that confronted mankind. 

 These are not the points at which the major discoveries and 

 inventions were made; they are the occasions when new ap- 

 plications of the scientific method emerged. Perhaps the 

 first of these occasions may be chosen as that at which causa- 

 tion was realized— when it was understood that like causes 

 beget like effects and, as a result, rational technology was 

 born. Another turning point in history came after the in- 

 vention of writing, when the methods and formulae for tech- 



225 



