December 10, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



561 



works of seience of the past, that which is not 

 and can not be superseded, is perhaps the most 

 important part of our own quest. A true human- 

 ist must know the life of science as he knows the 

 life of art and the life of religion. 



The life of a science is not its daily prac- 

 tise in technic, building theories, testing hy- 

 potheses and handling results as worth so 

 much — it is the story of trials and errors — the 

 struggle of the mind for new concepts of 

 nature and man's relation to this progress, 

 and in the words of another true humanist,' 



The student should be led to see that human his- 

 tory is a continuous process, not a succession of 

 eatastrophies. The real growth of humanity takes 

 place in quiet; by war it is interrupted or re- 

 versed. For war is never the motive force of 

 progress, and the spread of great ideas is not 

 often facilitated by it. The forward trend of 

 civilization is largely conditioned on seience — ^itself 

 a product of peace. 



With each new advance in science, each 

 phenomenon of event shows only too conclu- 

 sively how closely knit is the history of the 

 discovery bound up with it, that no discussion 

 of the theory or final result can be clear with- 

 out its antecedent proceeding. The evolution 

 of scientific progress clearly shows that there 

 is no finality in science. The recent work in 

 " Eelativity and Gravitation " is the best ex- 

 ample of concomitancy of theory and his- 

 tory — from the philosophical concept of the 

 Greeks, to the present most rigorous and 

 complex matheraatical and physical under- 

 standing of Einstein's theory. The whole 

 field of physical science has been reset with 

 historical importance which has never been 

 realized since Newton. 



And surely our own progress in science in 

 America warrants us to become more intro- 

 spective, namely — viewing the present in the 

 light of the past. If we are to have a distinct 

 type of culture, worthy of any great intellec- 

 tual epoch, it must depend upon our ability 

 for introspection. To this end, then, it is 

 interesting to note, that throughout the 

 country there is awakening a new interest 



s David Starr Jordan, "Building for the Fu- 

 ture," Tlie FuUie, May 3, 1919, p. 462. 



in the history of science. This movement is 

 but natural and in conformity with the 

 growth of science progress itself. 



Some few years ago it was pointed out to 

 what extent the interest in the history of sci- 

 ence had grown, especially as an educational 

 factor in our colleges and universities.* 

 Fortunately the " great war " has not lessened 

 the interest, but it may have retarded the 

 developments. 



From a recent survey over practically the 

 same field of investigation, it is extremely en- 

 couraging to note a few prominent features 

 of this development. These facts will be 

 given in order that a clearer understanding 

 may be had for one of the many reasons why 

 the History of Science work should be organ- 

 ized to form section " L " (Historical and 

 Philological Sciences). Heretofore section 

 " L " has not functioned, so that the field is 

 open for organization and for productivity. 



The most prominent and effective step in 

 this growing movement was the establishment 

 of a full professorship at the University of 

 California in 1918 in the history of mathe- 

 matics. The well-knovTn scholar and histor- 

 ian of mathematics. Dr. Florian Cajori, has 

 for two years offered courses in the history 

 of mathematics and history of physics, be- 

 sides for graduate work two seminar courses 

 are offered in the history of algebra and of 

 infinite series. 



The next forward step of equal importance 

 was the establishment of the post of research 

 scholar in the history of science in the Car- 

 negie Institution of Washington. The new 

 position (Associate in the History of Science) 

 was eminently filled by the appointment of 

 Dr. George Sarton, who has for the last few 

 years been offering courses in the history of 

 science in Harvard University. From an ex- 

 tract concerning Dr. Sarton's work^ it is of 

 value to note the importance the authorities 

 of the Carnegie Institution place upon the 

 future of this movement. 



4 Science, N. S., Vol. XLII., No. 1091, pages 

 746-760, November 26, 1915. 



5 Year Book No. 18, Carnegie Institution, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. (1919), pages 347-349. 



