EGYPTIAN SCIENCE 



architect had left to be filled; he had no historical 

 sense to show to him that truth should take precedence 

 over mere decoration. And everywhere he lived in 

 the same happy-go-lucky way. He loved personal 

 ease, the pleasures of the table, the luxuries of life, 

 games, recreations, festivals. He took no heed for the 

 morrow, except as the morrow might minister to his 

 personal needs. Essentially a sensual being, he scarce- 

 ly conceived the meaning of the intellectual life in the 

 modern sense of the term. He had perforce learned 

 some things about astronomy, because these were 

 necessary to his worship of the gods ; about practical 

 medicine, because this ministered to his material needs ; 

 about practical arithmetic, because this aided him in 

 every-day affairs. The bare rudiments of an historical 

 science may be said to be crudely outlined in his de- 

 fective lists of kings. But beyond this he did not go. 

 Science as science, and for its own sake, was unknown 

 to him. He had gods for all material functions, and 

 festivals in honor of every god ; but there was no god- 

 dess of mere wisdom in his pantheon. The conception 

 of Minerva was reserved for the creative genius of an- 

 other people. 



