THE BEGINNINGS OF GREEK SCIENCE 



ments would appear to have been meagre enough. 

 There is nothing to show that he gained an inkling of 

 the true character of the solar system. He did not 

 even recognize the sphericity of the earth, but held, 

 still following the Oriental authorities, that the world 

 is a flat disk. Even his famous cosmogonic guess, 

 according to which water is the essence of all things 

 and the primordial element out of which the earth was 

 developed, is but an elaboration of the Babylonian 

 conception. 



When we turn to the other field of thought with 

 which the name of Thales is associated namely, 

 geometry we again find evidence of the Oriental in- 

 fluence. The science of geometry, Herodotus assures 

 us, was invented in Egypt. It was there an eminently 

 practical science, being applied, as the name literally 

 suggests, to the measurement of the earth's surface. 

 Herodotus tells us that the Egyptians were obliged to 

 cultivate the science because the periodical inunda- 

 tions washed away the boundary-lines between their 

 farms. The primitive geometer, then, was a surveyor. 

 The Egyptian records, as now revealed to us, show 

 that the science had not been carried far in the land 

 of its birth. The Egyptian geometer was able to 

 measure irregular pieces of land only approximately. 

 He never fully grasped the idea of the perpendicular as 

 the true index of measurement for the triangle, but 

 based his calculations upon measurements of the actual 

 side of that figure. Nevertheless, he had learned to 

 square the circle with a close approximation to the 

 truth, and, in general, his measurement sufficed for all 

 his practical needs. Just how much of the geometrical 



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