Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 February 1915 — SCIENCE IN ITS EARLY YEARS [ARTICLE]

SCIENCE IN ITS EARLY YEARS

Efforts of Truly Great Men Largely Nullified by the Work of the Bophlsts. And so It happened that, about 650 B. C., there arose Thales, who, by his wide experience and the persistent enthusiasm with which he carried on investigation, earned the title of Father of Science. And so, also, shortly after him, Anaximander, by committing his knowledge to writing, brought into existence the first scientific manuscript. The sixth century, like the seventh, was still a period of origins. It saw the physical researches of Pythagoras, and the historical studies of Hecataeus. In the fifth century Greek learning reached |ts climax. This age was resplendent with the names of Thucydides, who wrote history with critical care; of Heraclitus, who conceived of. a universal reign of law, and of Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine. Its greatest character was Socrates, the barefooted, questioning sage of the market place of Athens. With ever burning enthusiasm for truth, this great teacher attempted, by quiet and candid, debate, to aid men to make their concepts clear, and to give words definite meanings, trusting that threoph the correct use of the reason they would arrive at a recognition of superiority of right actions. The fourth century was both an advance and a decline. It comprised the work of Plato and Aristotle, the one elaborating the concepts of Socrates with poetic power, the other systematising knowledge in truly scientific form. Bat Jn this age the demand for brilliant

superficial learning as an asset for climbers led to the rise of the Sophists. These popular teachers, by their careless, sweeping generalizations and their rhetorical embellishments, turned the Greek mind aside from the simple pursuit of truth, and entangled it in unprofitable metaphysical speculations.—Engineering Magazine. {