A HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



BOOK II 



THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN SCIENCE 



[E studies of the present book cover the progress 

 of science from the close of the Roman period in 

 the fifth century A.D. to about the middle of the eigh- 

 teenth century. In tracing the course of events 

 through so long a period, a difficulty becomes promi- 

 nent which everywhere besets the historian in less 

 degree a difficulty due to the conflict between the 

 strictly chronological and the topical method of treat- 

 ment. We must hold as closely as possible to the 

 actual sequence of events, since, as already pointed 

 out, one discovery leads on to another. But, on the 

 other hand, progressive steps are taken contempora- 

 neously in the various fields of science, and if we were 

 to attempt to introduce these in strict chronological 

 order we should lose all sense of topical continuity. 



Our method has been to adopt a compromise, fol- 

 lowing the course of a single science in each great 



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