seventeen books is one of the most valuable that
have come down from antiquity, both from the discussions which run
through it, and the curious facts which can be found nowhere else. It is
scarcely fair to estimate the genius of Strabo by the correctness and
extent of his geographical knowledge. All men are comparatively ignorant
in science, because science is confessedly a progressive study. The
great scientific lights of our day may be insignificant, compared with
those who are to arise, if profundity and accuracy of knowledge be made
the test. It is the genius of the ancients, their grasp and power of
mind, their original labors, which we are to consider.

Thus it would seem that among the ancients, in those departments of
science which are inductive, there were not sufficient facts, well
established, from which to make sound inductions; but in those
departments which are deductive, like pure mathematics, and which
require great reasoning powers, there were lofty attainments,--which
indeed gave the foundation for the achievements of modern science.

* * * * *

AUTHORITIES.

An exceedingly learned work (London, 1862) on the Astronomy of the
Ancients, by Sir George Cornewall Lewis, though rather ostentatious in
the parade of authorities, and minute on points which are not of much
consequence, is worth consulting. Delambre's History of Ancient
Astronomy has long been a classic, but is richer in materials for a
history than a history itself. There is a valuable essay in the
Encyclopaedia Britannica, which refers to a list of special authors.
Whewell's History of the Inductive Sciences may also be consulted with
profit. Dunglison's History of Medicine is a standard, giving much
detailed information, and Leclerc among the French and Speugel among the
Germans are esteemed authorities. Strabo's Geography is the most
valuable of antiquity; see also Polybius: both of these have been
translated and edited for English readers.

MATERIAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS.

MECHANICAL AND USEFUL ARTS.

4000-50 B.C.

While the fine arts made great progress among the cultivated nations of
antiquity, and with the Greeks reached a refinement that has never since
been surpassed, the ancients were far behind modern nations in
everything that has utility for its object. In implements of war, in
agricultural instruments, in the variety of manufactures, in machinery,
in chemical compounds, in domesti