SUMMARY OF THE CONTENTS. XlH 



for the foundations of cosmical knowledge, and of comparative ethno- 

 logical study, were presented at once to one single portion of the human 

 race. The use of these materials, and the intellectual elaboration of 

 matter, are facilitated and rendered of more importance by the direo 

 tion imparted by the Stagirite to empirical investigation, philosophical 

 speculation, and to the strict definitions of a language of science. The 

 Macedonian expedition was, in the strictest sense of the word, a scien- 

 tific expedition. Callisthenes of Olynthus, the pupil of Aristotle, and 

 friend of Theophrastus. The knowledge of the heavens, and of the 

 earth and its products, was considerably increased by intercourse with 

 Babylon, and by the olDservations that had been made by the dissolved 

 Chaldean order of priests — p. 169. 



III. Increase of the Contemplation of the Universe under the Ptole 

 mie*.— Grecian Egypt enjoyed the advantage of political unity, while its 

 geographical position, and the entrance to the Arabian Gulf, brought 

 the profitable traffic of the Indian Ocean within a few miles of the south- 

 eastern shores of the- Mediterranean. The kingdom of the Seleucidas 

 did not enjoy the advantages of a maritime trade, and was frequently 

 shaken by the conflicting nationality of the different satrapies. Active 

 traffic on rivers and caravan tracks with the elevated plateaux of the 

 Seres, north of the Uttara-Kuru and the Valley of the Oxus. Knowledge 

 of monsoons. Reopening of the canal connecting the Red Sea with the 

 I^ile above Bubastus. History of this water route. Scientific institu- 

 tions under the protection of the Lagides ; the Alexandrian Museum, 

 and two collections of books in Bruchium and at Rhakotis. Peculiar 

 direction of these studies. A happy generalization of views manifests 

 itself, associated with an industrious accumulation of materials. Era- 

 tosthenes of Cyrene. The first attempt of the Greeks, based on imper- 

 fect data of the Bematists, to measure a degree between Syene and 

 Alexandria. Simultaneous advance of science in pure mathematics, 

 mechanics, and astronomy. Aristyllus and Timochares. Views enter- 

 tained regarding the structure of the universe by Aristai'chus of Samos, 

 and Seleucus of Babylon or of Erythraea. Hipparchus, the founder of 

 scientific astronomy, and the greatest independent astronomical observer 

 of antiquity. Euclid. Apollonius of Perga, and Archimedes — p. 179. 



IV. Influence of tKe Universal Dominion of the Romans and of their 

 Empire on the Extension of Cosmical Views. — Considering the diversity 

 in the configuration of the soil, the variety of the organic products, the 

 distant expeditions to the Amber lands, and under iElius Gallus to Ara- 

 bia, and the peace which the Romans long enjoyed under the monarchy 

 of the Caesars, they might, indeed, during four centuries, have afforded 

 more animated support to the pursuit of natural science ; but with the 

 Roman national spirit perished social mobility, publicity, and the main- 

 tenance of individuality — the main supports of free institutions for the 

 furtherance of intellectual-development. In this lon^ period, the only 

 observers of nature that present themselves to our notice are Dioscori- 

 des, the Cilician, and Galen of Pergamus. Claudius Ptolemy made the 

 first advance in an important branch of mathematical physics, and in 

 the study of optics, based on experiments. Material advantages of the 

 extension of inland trade to the interior of Asia, and the navigation of 

 Myos HoiTTios to India. Under Vespasian and Domitian, in the time 

 of the dynasty of Han, a Chinese army penetrates as far as the eastern 

 shores of the Caspian Sea. The direction of the stream of migration in 

 Asia is from east to west, while in the new continent it inclines froro 

 north to south. Asiatic migrations begin, a century and a half before 



