124 A Century of Science 



and birds were encountered amid outlandish trees 

 and shrubs in new climates beyond unknown seas. 

 The old familiarity with nature's aspects received 

 an abrupt shock. On every side loomed up new 

 questions to be answered, new practical problems 

 to be solved. All man's inventive faculty, all his 

 patient inquisitiveness, all the courage he could 

 summon, were forthwith called into play. The 

 dreams of boundless riches, the eager thirst for new 

 knowledge, the superhuman bravery, which charac- 

 terized the epoch of maritime discovery, are symp- 

 toms that reveal to us the highly wrought condi- 

 tion of the European mind at the time. A study 

 of contemporary chronicles and letters cannot fail 

 to bring home to us the singular intensity with 

 which the thrill of venturesome romance was felt 

 in every fibre of man's being. 



The impulse thus given to free thinking must 

 have been extremely powerful. It is customary 

 to attribute the brilliant efflorescence of the hu- 

 man mind in the sixteenth century to the revival 

 of Greek learning. Without seeking to diminish 

 the respect due to that mighty cause, it may be 

 contended that the influence of maritime discovery 

 was equally important. While the Greek renais- 

 sance brought men into wholesome and stimulat- 

 ing intercourse with the highest achievements of 



