684 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 985 



replete with astronomical methods and 

 observations of the widest range and signifi- 

 cance, and includes Ptolemy's discovery of 

 the lunar evection, a rough determination 

 of the distance from the earth to the sun, a 

 masterly discussion of the motions of the 

 planets, and a catalogue of 1,022 stars. 

 These remarkable advances, which include 

 only a fraction of the enormous scientific 

 product of the Alexandrian school, were 

 supplemented by equally striking contribu- 

 tions to literature and art. Philology, criti- 

 cism and the history of literature became 

 sciences, while the coming together of Budd- 

 hists, Jews, Greeks and Egyptians, with 

 the most diverse beliefs, led to the develop- 

 ment of comparative theology. Of the 

 literary works of the Alexandrian school 

 the Septuagint and the poems of Theocritus 

 are perhaps the most widely known.^^ 



The rising power of Rome, which finally 

 made of Alexandria a mere provincial 

 town, was coincident with the decline of 

 Greek intellectual life. In this paper only 

 the more significant epochs in the develop- 

 ment of academies can be mentioned, and 

 we must pass over the work of the imme- 

 diate successors of the Alexandrian school 

 in Rome and Byzantium, and the achieve- 

 ments of Arabian science in Africa, Spain 

 and Persia. In 1453, by the fall of Con- 

 stantinople, where Greek scholars had pre- 

 served, in antiquated and pedantic form, 

 the literaiy and philosophical traditions of 

 the Alexandrian age, Italy was once more 

 raised to its old position of "Magna 

 Grascia." Some years earlier the scholar 

 and ambassador Pletho, aided by Cosimo 

 de Medici, had established a Platonic acad- 

 emy in Florence. Under this stimulus, and 

 the infiuence of the Greek refugees, philos- 

 ophy became popular, and Greek was 

 •widely studied. The voyages of Columbus, 



12 See the works of Matter, Montucla, Bossut, 

 Whewell, Draper and Weber. 



Da Gama and Magellan, and the astro- 

 nomical achievements of Tyeho Brahe, 

 Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo reawak- 

 ened the appreciation of scientific research 

 and its possibilities. Leonardo da Vinci 

 continued the work of Archimedes and the 

 Alexandrian school in optics, mechanics 

 and other branches of physics, Vesalius 

 established human anatomy on a firm 

 foundation, and Harvey proved the theory 

 of the circulation of the blood. It is not 

 surprising that under such conditions acad- 

 emies of literature and science should 

 multiply in Europe. 



Among the earliest Italian academies 

 were the academy of history, philology and 

 archeology, founded in Rome by Pomponio 

 Leto in 1457; the Accademia di S. Luca, 

 devoted to the fine arts, established in 1577 ; 

 and the Accademia della Crusca, founded 

 in 1582, which has published several edi- 

 tions of its great Italian dictionary.^' In 

 addition to these organizations seriously 

 devoted to the encouragement of literature 

 and the arts, a host of imitations sprang up 

 all over Italy during the sixteenth century. 

 Perhaps the gaiety of their proceedings was 

 considered to find sufficient warrant in the 

 splendid suppers offered to the academy of 

 Pomponio by the wealthy German Goritz, 

 regarding which Ginguene^* quotes the 

 remarks of an earlier authority : 



Ainsi, dit avec un juste sentiment de regret, 1© 

 bon Tiraboschi, ainsi parmi les verres et les jeux 

 d 'esprit, on cultivait joyeusement les lettres, et 

 les plaisirs memes servaient S. en encourager et 4 

 en ranimer I'^tude. 



According to Libri," Leonardo da Vinci 

 founded and directed the first scientific and 

 experimental academy established in Italy. 



13 Carutti, "Breve storia dell 'Accademia del 

 Lincei, " p. 157. 



14 Ginguene, ' ' Histoire literaire d 'Italie, ' ' Vol. 

 7, p. 353. 



15 "Histoire des sciences mathematiques en 

 Italie," Vol. 3, p. 30. 



