A History of Science

George Sarton is, in many ways, a twentieth century example of the Renaissance ideal of the "universal man." In our age of specialization it is almost impossible to attach a conventional label to Dr. Sarton. He is a scientist who received the degree of doctor of science in mathematics from the University of Ghent; he is a novelist (La chaine d'or, 1909, written under the pseudonym of Dominique de Bray); he is a linguist whose knowledge of ancient and Eastern languages would put a Renaissance humanist to shame; and, above all, he is a historian of science who has, almost single-handed, raised this study from the status of a hobby among scientists to a full-fledged and recognized scholarly discipline. His activities in the history of science alone invite wonder from his colleagues. He has been one of the most effective propagandists for this new field in The history of science and the new humanism and a host of journal articles. He founded (1912) and supported out of his own pocket, Isis, the first journal devoted to the history of science, followed in later years by two other journals, Osiris (1936) and Horus (1952). Finally, in the years 1927 to 1948, he produced his monumental Introduction to the history of science, which lists and discusses all known persons who engaged in scientific activity or speculation from the dawn of history to the end of the fourteenth century. This work is to the historian of science what the Handbook of chemistry and physics is to the physical scientist-an indispensable tool but not a work which can be read to gain a comprehensive view of the field. Professor Sarton has long realized the need for such a comprehensive view, and his projected eight-volume history of science is intended to provide this. If the first volume on ancient science is representative of the volumes to follow, then Professor Sarton will have succeeded admirably. This is no narrow history of science reciting the names of scientists and philosophers and their contributions to the history of thought. It is, rather, a cultural history in which science occupies the central position. Thus Professor Sarton has attempted to describe the civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Greece, discussing not only their scientific work but the place of science in these cultures and the action of other cultural forces on the development of the sciences. Unfortunately, the attempt is …