CHAPTER II 



SCIENCE IN THE ANCIENT WORLD 



Chaldea Egypt India Greece Religion and Philosophy Early Greek 

 Philosophy The Problem of Matter The Atomists Aristotle 

 Euclid and Geometry Archimedes and the Origins of Mechanics 

 Medicine The Failure of Rome The Influence of Alexandria. 



AT the dawn of history two civilizations stand up 



out of the darkness the civilizations of Egypt and 



Chaldea known to us chiefly by the 



remains of buildings, sculpture, and 



inscriptions preserved in their waste places, and by 



the influence of their culture and religion on the 



organization and beliefs of adjoining nations and 



races. 



As far back as 2500 years before Christ, standard 

 measures of length, weight and capacity were issued 

 under royal authority in Babylon, an indication that 

 the Chaldeans had already grasped the importance 

 of fixed units of physical measurement. Here we 

 have the first known signs of that co-ordination and 

 standardization of the knowledge of common sense 

 and of industry which gives the surest base for the 

 origin of science in its practical form. 



The elements of arithmetic were also known to the 

 Babylonians. The multiplication table and tables of 



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