Ancient Science

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 11, 28 January 1937, Page 9

Ancient Science

Documents Over 5000 Years Old

JJOW far. back in point of time goes science? This intriguing question is answered in part in a chapter of "Science in Antiqulty" (says Public Opinion). That the question is not wholly answered is due to the fact that a eomplete answer cannot yet be given. Recent investigations at the site of ancient clvilisations deny the truth of the belief that science did not, exist before the Greeks. That is as far as most authorities are prepared to go now, although the; do attempt— as does Frofessor Benjamln Farrington, Frofessor of Classics at the Unlversity College of Swansea, who is .the author of this book — to give a startlng point in terms of years as far as investigations have proved this. "It is true," says Professor Farrington, , "that our science can be derived by a continuous tradition from a brilliant flowering in the sixth century B.C. in the Qreek town of Miletus, on the coast of Anatolia. -But it is equally. true that before the middle of the second millennium B.C.— that is to say, more than 1000 years before the dawn of Greek science — deflnitely scientific elements are to be found in at least two of the older Eastern clvilisations, those of Egypt and Mesopotamia. And though the bridge connefcting them with the beginning of Greek science has been partially broken down through the loss of the historical tradition, that there was a connection, an influence of the older clvilisations on the Greek, is certain." "When Queen Victoria came to the Throne," said Professor Farrington, "the year *004 B.C. was generally accepted for the creation of the world. Writing was supposed to have been- invented by the Phoenicians about the seventh century B.C. We now possess written documents that go back almost to the date at which men of the Victorian age supposed the world to have been created." It is the evidence of the twentieth century — the result of archaeological work — that puts beyond doubt the question whether there was anything worthy of the name science in existence before the Greeks. Close Connection. While admitting that the goal of te^hnique is practical and that of science theoretical, Professor Farrington argues that there is a close, important connection between the two. "The technician ] wants to do something," he says; "the scientist wants to know. But we have ; come to realise that the best proof that ] our knowledge is genuine is that it ] enables us to do something. Science is j continually tested in action. We have also •, come to feel that in its origin science is ] not in fact so divoreed from practical i

ends as historians have sometimes made out." Arguing thus, Professor Farringtor proceeds to the statement that "the astonishing achievements in technique of the anCientK civilisations must be regarded as a step in the attaimnent' oi science." The Egyptians, for instance, di covered metals as far hack as 4000 B.C.; before 3000 B.C. they had an alphaoet, and pens, ink, and paper; the pyramids were-constructed between 3000 and 2500 B.C. In this epoch also the Egyptians were busy with agriculture, dairying, pottery, glass making, weaving, shipbuilding and carpentry of every sbrt. "This activlty," says Professor Farrington, "rested upon a basis of empirical knowledge." For instance, these Egyptians had.In the third millennium various instruments of bronze, which showed a constant proportion of about 12 per cent. of tin, which gives the alloy a maximum of hardness without fragility. Professor Farrington observes that the fixing of such a proporti;.i is certainly the result of rational observation, adding: "To- deny it the name of science because it was, perhaps, handed down by tradition to apprentiCes instead of being written in a book is not ■wholly just." The state of the Egyptian Pharaohs was highly organised, and impossible without a calendar. The introduction of ' the first calendar is now authoritatively placed at 4236 B.C., the year being divided, on the seasons, into 365 days, or 12 months each of 30 days, With five extra heavenly or sacred days. The unmistakable scientific achievement of the Egyptians, Professor Farrington says, lies in the domains of mathematics and medicine, our knowledge of which rests on a chance preservation of a few papyrus rolls, or fragments of rolls. The most important for mathematics is that known as the Rhind papyrus, and that for medicine the Edwin Smith papyrus. These two documents were found together in the middle of last century. The former, he says, makes it abundantly evident that the Egyptians had an elementary science of mathematics. The latter is even more surprising, being the fragment of a surgical treatise dealing with injuries to the body; the anatomical knowledge is considerable and correct. • This interesting chapter also deals with Babylonian science, which Professor Farrington says is possibly older than Egyptian, and its records much more abundant. Of scientific elements ln the ancient civilisations of Chlna and India, he says the study is as yet insufficiently advanced.