on 

 \Gl 



16 GREEK SCIENCE AND 



these restraints will perhaps be removed. Scientific 

 education will ally itself with Philosophy and take 

 interest in wider generalization.^ Further, as Science 

 becomes the basis of education, the Science taught will 

 itself need to be more general in character, and will of 

 its nature link together the specialists in the various 

 departments. In the return of Science to its old alle- 

 giance to Philosophy, and in the greater generalization 

 of Science teaching we are likely to retrace our steps 

 toward the Greeks. Let us hope that it will not be 

 to enter again on the path of fruitless and baseless 

 speculation which proved their bane. 



But there is another characteristic of Ancient Science 

 on which we may profitably dwell. If we examine any 

 Greek work of Science, other than mathematical, we 

 <>shall perceive certain very striking differences in 

 f ) technical treatment as compared with a modern work. 

 These differences have often been obscured by the 

 panegyrics of those who are more interested in demon- 

 strating the brilliance of the Greek results than in 

 analysing the Greek method. Yet many have felt it 

 difficult to understand, why, with all their brilliance, 

 the Greeks did not carry their physical investigations 

 further than they did. These difficulties are in part at 

 least explained when we examine closely the Greek 

 method of recording results. 



Now, omitting always the mathematical works, Greek 

 scientific treatises may be divided into two classes which 

 show a perpetual tendency to overlap. First there are 

 works like Aristotle's De Generatione et Corruptione or 

 his Meteorica which seek to set out a general theory of 

 the Universe. These are not profoundly based on 

 observation and are mainly made up of ratiocination. 

 If written to-day they would be placed by a modern 



