THE BEGINNINGS OF EXPERIMENTATION 49 



butions to human knowledge. Their national spirit 

 showed itself in the conquest and consolidation of 

 alien territory. What developments they made in 

 natural science were dictated by this spirit and its 

 necessities, and were largely in the field of military 

 engineering. 



In this field they surpassed previous civilizations. 

 To maintain their lines of military communication 

 they made advances in the science of road building and 

 bridge making. The etymology of the word "ponti- 

 fex," which was the name of the highest priesthood, is 

 immediately suggestive. Their aqueducts and public 

 buildings are justly famous. Agriculture and forestry 

 were held in good repute ; and in early Rome the pa- 

 trician was always a farmer. The work of the arts was 

 not highly regarded, even before the enormous growth 

 of slavery had attached its stigma to almost all pro- 

 ductive work. 



In medicine, or more particularly in surgery, the 

 Romans made contributions. In the ruins of Pom- 

 peii, which was destroyed by Vesuvius in 79 A. D., many 

 interesting surgical instruments have been found. It 

 was this eruption of the volcano of which Pliny, the 

 Elder (23-79 A.D.), in scientific curiosity, took too 

 close a view. Pliny himself wrote a long book on 

 " Natural History" which illustrates the practicality 

 of the Roman interest in science. 



How the Roman Empire gradually succumbed to 

 the waves of invasion of rude strong tribes from north- 

 eastern Europe and how "dark ages" followed is one 

 of the important stories of "medieval history." How 

 all branches of learning and all forms of art suffered 



