38 A SHORT HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



history the Greeks were the first who combined science and art, reason 

 and imagination. . . . The application of a clear and fearless intel- 

 lect to every domain of Me was one of the services rendered by Greece 

 to the world. It was connected with an awakening of the lay spirit. 

 In the East the priests had generally held the keys of knowledge. . . . 

 To Greece then we owe the love of science, the love of art, the love of 

 freedom. . . . And in this union we recognize the distinctive features 

 of the West. The Greek genius is the European genius in its first 

 and brightest bloom. 



SOURCES. The sources of our information as to the details of 

 the scientific ideas of the Greeks are exceedingly meagre, some of 

 the most important historical and scientific treatises being known 

 to us only by title or by detached quotations, or indirectly through 

 Arabic translations. Among specific ancient sources of infor- 

 mation in regard to Greek mathematical science the following 

 may be mentioned : 



About 330 B.C., Eudemus, a disciple of Aristotle, wrote a his- 

 tory of geometry of which a summary by Proclus has been 

 preserved. 



About 70 B.C., Geminus of Rhodes wrote an Arrangement of 

 Mathematics with historical data. This has also been lost, but 

 quotations are preserved in some of the later authors. 



About 140 A. D., Theon of Smyrna wrote Mathematical Rules 

 necessary for the Study of Plato. 



About 300 A.D., Pappus' Collections contain much information 

 in regard to the previous development of geometry. 



In the fifth century A.D., Proclus published a commentary on 

 Euclid's Elements with valuable historical data. 



THE CALENDAR. The Greek calendar was based at an early 

 period on the lunar month, the year consisting of 12 months of 

 30 days each. About 600 B.C. a correction was made by Solon, 

 making every two years contain 13 months of 30 days and 12 of 

 29 days each, giving thus 369 days per year. In the following 

 century a much closer approximation 365| days was at- 

 tained by confining the thirteenth month to three years out of 

 eight. This arrangement naturally failed, however, to meet the 



