AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE – PREFACE

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE BY WALTER LIBBY, M.A., Ph.D. PROFESSOR OF THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press Cambridge [Pg ii] COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY WALTER LIBBY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The Riverside Press CAMBRIDGE. MASSACHUSETTS U. S. A [Pg iii] … Continue reading →

SCIENCE AND DEMOCRATIC CULTURE

CHAPTER XX SCIENCE AND DEMOCRATIC CULTURE Education is the oversight and guidance of the development of the immature with certain ethical and social ends in view. Pedagogy, therefore, is based partly on psychology—which, as we have seen in the preceding chapter, is closely related to the biological sciences—and partly on ethics, or the study of … Continue reading →

THE SCIENTIFIC IMAGINATION

CHAPTER XIX THE SCIENTIFIC IMAGINATION Psychology, or the science of mental life as revealed in behavior, has been greatly indebted to physiologists and to students of medicine in general. Any attempt to catalogue the names of those who have approached the study of the mind from the direction of the natural sciences is liable to … Continue reading →

SCIENTIFIC HYPOTHESIS—RADIOACTIVE SUBSTANCES

CHAPTER XVIII SCIENTIFIC HYPOTHESIS—RADIOACTIVE SUBSTANCES The untrained mind, reliant on so-called facts and distrustful of mere theory, inclines to think of truth as fixed rather than progressive, static rather than dynamic. It longs for certainty and repose, and has little patience for any authority that does not claim absolute infallibility. Many a man of the … Continue reading →

SCIENCE AND INVENTION—LANGLEY’S AEROPLANE

CHAPTER XVII SCIENCE AND INVENTION—LANGLEY’S AEROPLANE In his laudation of the nineteenth century Alfred Russel Wallace ventured to enumerate the chief inventions of that period: (1) Railways; (2) steam navigation; (3) electric telegraphs; (4) the telephone; (5) friction matches; (6) gas-lighting; (7) electric-lighting; (8) photography; (9) the phonograph; (10) electric transmission of power; (11) Röntgen … Continue reading →

SCIENCE AND WAR—PASTEUR, LISTER

CHAPTER XVI SCIENCE AND WAR—PASTEUR, LISTER In the history of science war is no mere interruption, but a great stimulating influence, promoting directly or indirectly the liberties of the people, calling into play the energy of artisan and manufacturer, and increasing the demand for useful and practical studies. In the activities of naval and military … Continue reading →

SCIENCE AND TRAVEL—THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE

CHAPTER XV SCIENCE AND TRAVEL—THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE Sir Charles Lyell, in his Principles of Geology, the first edition of which appeared in 1830-1833, says: “If it be true that delivery be the first, second, and third requisite in a popular orator, it is no less certain that travel is of first, second, and third … Continue reading →

SCIENTIFIC PREDICTION—THE DISCOVERY OF NEPTUNE

CHAPTER XIV SCIENTIFIC PREDICTION—THE DISCOVERY OF NEPTUNE Under this heading we have to consider a single illustration—the prediction, and the discovery, in 1846, of the planet Neptune. This event roused great enthusiasm among scientists as well as in the popular mind, afforded proof of the reliability of the Newtonian hypothesis, and demonstrated the precision to … Continue reading →

THE SCIENTIST—SIR HUMPHRY DAVY

CHAPTER XIII THE SCIENTIST—SIR HUMPHRY DAVY Humphry Davy (1778-1829) was born in Cornwall, a part of England known for its very mild climate and the combined beauty and majesty of its scenery. On either side of the peninsula the Atlantic in varying mood lies extended in summer sunshine, or from its shroud of mist thunders … Continue reading →

THE REIGN OF LAW—DALTON, JOULE

CHAPTER XII THE REIGN OF LAW—DALTON, JOULE In the middle of the eighteenth century, when Lambert and Kant were recognizing system and design in the heavens, little progress had been made toward discovering the constitution of matter or revealing the laws of the hidden motions of things. Boyle had, indeed, made a beginning, not only … Continue reading →