12 THE REALITIES OF MODERN SCIENCE 



clay and the atmosphere best suited this work. In 

 Egypt, on the other hand, great interest was taken in 

 the various constellations in which the sun appeared 

 at dawn. The heliacal rising of Sirius marked the 

 annual inundation of the lands adjacent to the Nile 

 and began the calendar year. 



It is interesting to note, also, that the division of hours 

 and minutes, each into sixty parts, may be traced to the 

 Babylonians. Although they had a decimal system 

 of numbers, they also had a sexagesimal system. In 

 their system of weights, starting with a "shekel" 

 equivalent to about half an ounce, they had a unit, 

 the "mina," sixty times as large, and also a unit, the 

 "talent/' which was equal to sixty minas. 



In general, both these early races were singularly 

 lacking in curiosity as to the world in which they lived, 

 as to its natural laws, its origin, and its composition. 

 They did, however, invent new contrivances and thus 

 showed a practical familiarity with some of the phe- 

 nomena of nature. As early as 4000 B.C. the Egyptians 

 had learned to melt iron oy using a bellows to make 

 the fire burn hot enough. 



In some respects their temperament was like our own. 

 They were interested in practical applications and were 

 unconcerned or even impatient of attempts to classify 

 and coordinate their knowledge and to speculate upon 

 the fundamental causes of the phenomena which they 

 observed. They did not realize that practical devices fol- 

 low and do not in general precede advances in scientific 

 knowledge. In the case of the Egyptians this lack of 

 speculative interest was combined with a feeling that in 

 their religion they had reached a finality. As a result 



