Introduction to the History of Science. Volume I, from Homer to Omar Khayyam by GeorgeSartonReview by: Charles H. HaskinsIsis, Vol. 10, No. 1 (Mar., 1928), pp. 88-92Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/224751 .

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88 ISIS, x, I

the old European centers of culture ; it creates for them a new cultural center. Indeed, it is not improbable that the Pacific Ocean will some day displace the Atlantic as a cultural axis, even as the Atlantic has displaced the Mediterranean Sea. It is interesting to note that English is the official language of this international congress, and that the South American nations have thus far failed to join it. These nations are still hypnotized by Europe ; they do not realize that the destinies of the new world, intellectual as well as material, are more likely to be shaped in the Pacific than in the Atlantic region. (3).

One more word: the attention of the Pan-Pacific Congress seems to be focused mainly upon scientific problems in the narrower sense; I hope that future sessions will devote more time to the consideration of anthropological, ethnographical, and archaeological problems, to the study of cultural exchanges and transmissions. So many such problems are still to be solved, which cannot be solved save by the collaboration of Pacific archaeologists, Oceanists, and Americanists, that it is worth while to unite their efforts. May the Java congress be as successful as its predecessors. GEORGE SARTON.

George Sarton. - Introduction to the History of Science. Volume I, from HOMER to OMAR KIIAYYAM. Published for the Carnegie Institution of Washington (Publication no. 376) by the Williams and Wilkins Company, Baltimore. 1927. Xii + 839 p.

This stout volume is the first installment of Dr. SARTON's ambitious plan for a comprehensive history of science (Isis, IV, 23-3 I) which shall include a purely chronological survey in seven or eight volumes, sur- veys of different types of civilization, e. g. Jewish, Muslim, and Chinese, which will require seven or eight volumes more, and a survey in eight or nine volumes of the evolution of the special sciences. Being a prudent man, the author does not expect to complete this stupendous program within a single lifetime, even with the aid of collaborators, but he hopes to accomplish enough in each division to justify the scheme and establish his method. In this hope all friends of the history of science will join.

(3) As this may seem a rash statement, I am glad to add the following corrobora- tion of it, which I read, after having written this review, in an article on world trade by CLIvE DAY, published in Foreign Affairs, the excellent political quarterly edited by ARCHIBIALD CARY COOLIDGE (Vol. 5, 1927, p. 634) :

(( 'Trade is passing from the Atlantic to the Pacific.' That is the closing sentence of the League's latest memorandum on Balance of Payments and Foreign Trade Balances, summarizing the changes in the currents of the world's trade. ' The United States and India now buy less from Europe and more from Asia; China and Japan buy less frorn Europe and more from North America ; Australia less: from Europe and more from both North America and Japan.'))

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REVIEWS 89

The author approaches the history of science, (( that is, of system- atized positive knowledge, )) from the point of view of the general history of civilization, as a phase not necessarily more important than other aspects of intellectual progress, but more neglected, and at the same time dealing with (( the only human activity which is truly cumulative and progressive. )) Under science he includes, philology, applied science, and much philosophy and pseudo-science, while he gives much attention to the history of religion as a parallel evolution of the greatest importance. Something is also said of law and historiography, but -eferences to poli- tical and economic history and the history of art are omitted on the ground that these are sufficiently well-known.

With this general treatment the historian of civilization need have little quarrel. He will not identify the history of science with the history of civilization, but he will admit that it forms a large and essential part thereof. If Dr. SARTON'S perspective overemphasizes the advance of knowledge at the expense of progress in social and political org-anization, this may well be admitted for the moment because of the relative neglect of the history of science, and so long as the general history of civilization remains the ultimate objective, it is not likely to be injured thereby. It is hard to say whether the history of science has suffered more from the disregard of general history than the general historian has suffered by ignoriing the history of science. The continued emphasis upon the intimate connection of the two is on-e of the prime excellences of all of Dr. SARTON'S work.

His breadth of view appears in still another way, namely in his extended treatment of Oriental science both in the Near and the Far East. This is manifest throughout but is especially notable in the mediaeval sections, where the emphasis upon the Muslim renaissance of the gth century and the enumeration, of Arabic scientists are particularly helpful to those for whom Arabic science has been only a name. At the same time, in

bringing Arabic science more fully into its own and emphasizing the scientific superiority of Islam, the author does not depreciate the Christian learning of the Middle Ages, indeed he is at some pains to justify mediaeval science in the general perspective of European development. In stopping about the year I100, he breaks off just before the reception of Arabic science in the West occasioned a profound change in the European outlook. Nevertheless, while so far as the present volume extends, these two currents remain almost entirely distinct, the history of science re- cognizes no water-tight compartments and even reveals connections between distant peoples which escape the political historian. Good

examples are the westward diffusion of Chinese silk-culture and Chinese printing, of Arabiarn mathematics and medicine, and of Byzantine art and learning. Another notable illustration (pp. 330-333) is the wide spread

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90 ISIS, Xx I

of Manichaeism and its significance as a transmitting agency between East and West.

The author's method is best described in his own words (( Each chapter is devoted to a single period ; the first to a period

of indeterminate length, the three following to centuries, and all of the remaining ones, thirty in number, to periods of half a century each. Each begins with a summary of the main facts, a simplified account of the development of science during that period. The first section of each chapter and this introductory chapter are the only parts of my wvork which are intended for continuous reading. The remainder of the material is incorporated for purposes of study and reference. )..... ((Thus, the best way of using this work is to read the introductory chapter and the first section of succeeding chapters, and to consult the other sections only as far as may be necessary to satisfy one's curiosity or to find an answer to a definite question. X

Some such arrangement was perhaps inevitable in a pioneer survey of so enormous a field, but it makes hard reading at the best, and may well discourage the use of the work on the part of those whose interest is not specialized. The general sections are compact and full of meat, but they are very brief and, in large measure, isolated, while the chrono- logical cross-sectioning, though defensible from the point of view of method, necessarily obscures the development of particular sciences and sometimes the whole movement. The appearance of discontinuity is increased by the great length of the bibliographical portions and by the fact that they are not sufficiently distinguished from the text by small type and a freer use of italics; the cost of printing has thus been reduced at the expense of the reader's convenience. Highly impressive in its comprehensiveness and its great learning, the volume becomnes chiefly a work of reference, a cyclopedia chronologically arranged but with con- nective tissue of the greatest importance to those who will pick it out.

The mass of information and the succinctness of the author's style

should, not be allowed to cover up the fact that the book is full of ideas as well and contains many suggestive observations like the following:

((Who is it who said that every thinking man is either a Platonist or an Aristotelian ? At any rate, this division is not exhaustive. Some of the greatest men of science throughout the ages, men like LEONARDO,

STEVIN, GALILEO, and HuYGENS, for example, represent another type, which might be called the Archimedian type. And it is largely because of the existence of that type that occidental science has become what it is )). (p. 167).

The discovery of the logical structure of language was as much a scientific achievement as the discovery of the anatomical structure "of the body )) (p. 179).

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REVIEWS 9I

((While Western Europe was shivering in the cold, China was basking in the morning sun. A little later these conditions would again be reversed. During the course of my studies of human progress, I have often had the impression that everything happens as if mankind were working in shifts )) (p. 443).

( Science always was revolutionary and heterodox ; it is its very essence to be so ; it ceases to be so only when it is asleep )> (p. 647).

The examination of such a work in detail would require the vast and encylopedic learning of the author, and even more, in fields so far apart as Chinese chronology, Hindu and Thibetan philosophy, the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, Arabian medicine and astronomy, Greek and Latin literature, and the whole learnting of the Byzantine East and the Latin West during the Middle Ages. All that a reviewer cah hope to do is to scrutinize with some care the sections with which he is most familiar, resting assured that the greater part of the work will lie outside his more special competence. The bibliographical apparatus clearly represents enormous labor, generally performed with accuracy and discri- mination, and is sure to be of great value to the user. The bibliographies seem weaker on accessory topics such as historiography and law. T'hus there is no citation of the standard manuals of mediaeval historiography such as WATTENBACH, MOLINIER, and GROSS, which the reader would require in order to follow up the chronicles and check their historical value. So on the side of Germanic law we miss books like BRUNNER'S Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte and LIEBERMANN'S Gesetze der Angelsachsen while the documentation is weak for the Salic law and the recent dis- cussions of CHARLEMAGNE'S capitulary De villis. Indeed agriculture and technology must always run into economic history, so that books on economic history cannot on principle be excluded. In the philosophical sections we miss reference to the.elaborate bibliographies of the current editions of UEBERWEG as well as to the last (1924) edition of DE WULF.

In the Graeco-Roman portion we could spare some of the many disser- tations on the stylistic influence of particular writers.

Apart from certain Gallicisms which can easily be remedied in a future edition and certain inconsistencies in the form of place names, the following represent the kind of observations I have made in the course of the volume:

P. IO9 The chronology of early Roman history gives the impression of too great definiteness. P. 127 The references on the legend of ALEXAN- DER are inadequate. P. 129 The influence of ARISTOTLE on political science should be more explicitly stated. P. 233 No translations of LivY are given, nor is modern criticism sufficiently represented. P. 250 See further RtCK in the Munich Sitzungsberichte, 5902, pp. 595-285. P. 4I8 line I8 For ( Constitution )) read (( Code )). P. 430 The starting-points

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9Z ISIS, X, I

of the Byzantine cycles should be given. P. 455 After GILDAS one expects, some reference to NENNIUS. P. 456 The editio princeps of GREGORY

OF TOURS should be cited (Paris, 1512). P. 559 DREXL's recent edition of ACHMET should be cited in a future edition. P. 576 VWe miss the Ame- rican translation of EINHARD by S. E. TURNER. P. 782 GOErz's Corpus glossariorum should be mentioned.

Cambridge, Mass. CHARLES H. HASKINS.

Tannery, Paul (i843-1904). - Mbmoires scientifiques. Volume VIII. Philosophie moderne. I876-I903. Edit6 par J. L. I-IEIBERG. XV + 413 pp. Toulouse, Edouard Privat, 1927.

La publication des mr&emoires de PAUL TANNERY se poursuit si rapide-

ment qu'a peine avons-nous acheve l'exa.men d'un volume que d6ja' le suivant sollicite notre curiosite. Le volume VI, qui parut apres le vo- lume VII, fut analys6 dans Isis, IX, 472. Le pr'sent volume est consacr6 tout entier a des etudes de philosophie et nous revele de nouveaux aspects de Ia personnalite si complexe et si riche de l'auteur. Il ne contient pas seulement de fortes etudes sur Ia philosophie des mathematiques et des sciences physiques - ceci ne nous 6tonne guere - mais plusieurs articles consacres a des questions de metaphysique et de psychologie.

L'interet de ce livre est plutot historique que philosophique, car il faut bien avouer qu'en depit de leur tres grande valeur au moment de leur publication, plusieurs de ces etudes sont evidemment surannees. Tant de progres ont ete faits, depuis la mort prematuree de TANNERY, tant de clartes nouvelles ont ete projet6es sur les questions fondamentales qui occupaient son attention, qu'il est devenu impossible de les considerer comme il le faisait. I1 eut ete d'ailleurs tout le premier 'a tenir compte de ces faits nouveaux, tout comme il fut le premier (en i876) 'a expliquer au public philosophique fran9ais les geometries non-euclidiennes. Les discussions sur la relativite par exemple, nous ont obliges 'a modifier nos vues sur l'espace et le temps; I'atomisme a cesse d'etre une simple vue de 1'esprit. TANNERY pouvait ecrire en T897 (P. 303) Le terme d'atomisme est aujourd'hui sur le point de devenir aussi vague et, par la me'me, philosophiquement aussi irncommode que celui de rialisme, par exemple; on commence a l'appliquer sans scrupule a des doctrines, non seulement essentiellement diff&rentes, mais meme veritablement contradictoires. Personne n'e6crirait cela aujourd'hui. Nos idees sur la gravitation universelle ont ete profond6ment modifiees par Ia theorie de la relativite ; la psychoanalyse, abstraction faite des exagerations auxquelles elle a conduit, noous a obliges 'a concevoir diffremment la psy- chologie des reves; et ainsi de suite. Bref, en lisant les parties de ce livre qui m'interessaient le plus, je ne pouvais m'empecher de me dire tout le temps: Quel dommage que TANNERY n'ait pas pu etre le temoin des

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