SCIENCE IN THE ANCIENT WORLD 27 



Egyptian civilization was at a comparatively advanced 

 stage of development. But the possibility of a long 

 and slow growth in art and science had not dawned on 

 the minds of men. It seemed clear that their ancestors, 

 left to their own human resources, could never have 

 made such discoveries as that of speech or of writing. 

 It was therefore natural to imagine a divine interven- 

 tion to account for the origin of every art, craft, or 

 science. All advance in knowledge was thus ascribed 

 to the revelation of the gods, and especially of Thot, 

 represented by the Ibis or Baboon, and of his ally 

 Mart, the goddess of truth. Thot, one of a legendary 

 race of divine sovereigns or legislators, was essentially 

 a moon-god, who measured time, counted days and 

 recorded the years. But he was also lord of the voice, 

 master of books and inventor of writing. 



This theory of the method of progress continued to 

 be put forward officially even when it was scarcely 

 possible that the more intelligent of the people could 

 have been deceived by it, at all events as regards 

 recent changes. Thus, in a text-book on medicine, 

 a chapter on a special branch of disease, which was 

 known to be of a later date than the rest of the work, 

 was not referred to the learning of any physician, but 

 was stated to have been disclosed one night to a priest 

 who was watching by moonlight in the temple of Isis. 



In arithmetic and geometry the knowledge of the 

 Egyptians was about on a level with that of the 

 Chaldeans. With the periodic submersion of the 

 land beneath the waters of the Nile and the obliteration 

 of boundaries, land measurement was of even more 

 importance, and doubtless accounts for the origin of a 

 science, once more referred to the benevolence of Thot. 



