CONTENTS 



BOOK I 

 CHAPTER I 



PREHISTORIC SCIENCE 



What is science ? p. 3 Scientific instincts in the lower animals, p. 4 

 Scientific knowledge of primitive man, p. 5 His observations 

 of the sun and moon, p. 7 His observation of universal gravitation, 

 p. 9 His observations in biology, p. n His knowledge of medi- 

 cine, p. 13 His conception of life and his late conception of nat- 

 ural death, p. 15 His political ideas and conceptions of ownership, 

 p. 20 His questionings of natural phenomena and his fanciful ex- 

 planations, p. 22 His superstitions and their perpetuity through- 

 out succeeding centuries, p. 23. 



CHAPTER II 



EGYPTIAN SCIENCE 



Sources of our knowledge of Egyptian history, p. 25 Deciphering 

 the hieroglyphics, p. 27 State of civilization at the beginning of 

 the historic period, p. 30 Building the pyramids, p. 32 The dawn 

 of astronomy, p. 33 The Egyptian calendar, p. 34 Adjustment 

 of the calendar, p. 35 The Egyptians' ideas of cosmology, p. 41 

 Their scheme of celestial mechanism, p. 42 Their conceptions of 

 the heavenly bodies, p. 44 Charms and incantations, p. 46 

 Scientific knowledge of the Egyptian physician, p. 49 Abstract 

 science, p. 51 Methods of computation, p. 52 Science and super- 

 stition, p. 54. 



CHAPTER III 



SCIENCE OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 



Babylon in the time of Herodotus, p. 57 Assyrian and Baby- 

 lonian records, p. 59 Babylonian astronomy, p. 61 The adjust- 



iii 



