THE RENAISSANCE 103 



became the greatest obstacle in the way of modern 

 learning of all kinds. Hence the birth of modern 

 science took place amid the throes of persecution, 

 and won its greatest triumphs only in countries that 

 were able to free themselves both from the dead hand 

 of ecclesiastical authority and from the grievous 

 blight of religious warfare. 



While the only method of reduplicating books con- 

 sisted in the laborious process of manual copying on 

 the somewhat costly and troublesome material parch- 

 ment, the possession of a library was within the reach 

 of but few individuals and not many institutions. 

 The introduction into Europe of the art of making 

 paper followed the later Crusades, and, about a 

 century afterwards, the invention of movable type 

 transformed the old attempts at printing with fixed 

 moulds into a practically useful art, and slowly put 

 books into the hands of all men. 



Simultaneously, a renewed ardour of geographical 

 discovery was increasing the area of the earth known 

 to Europe. The Portuguese were the first in the field, 

 and, under the inspiration of Dom Henrique, Prince 

 Henry the Navigator, had pushed south along the 

 western shores of Africa, first on a mission to convert 

 the heathen, and then on the open search for slaves 

 and gold. Their success drove others to emulate 

 them. The Greek theory of the sphericity of the 

 earth was revived and became a general belief. It 

 led to the obvious idea, which indeed the Greeks them- 

 selves had propounded, that, by sailing westward 

 into the Atlantic Ocean, the eastern shores of Asia 

 might be reached, and the rich trade of Cathay brought 

 direct by sea to Europe. After many failures, there 



