| | 21 | Author: | Williams, Henry Smith, 1863-1943 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | A History of Science: in Five Volumes. Volume I: The Beginnings of Science  | | | | Published: | 2000 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | TO speak of a prehistoric science may seem like
a contradiction of terms. The word prehistoric
seems to imply barbarism, while science, clearly
enough, seems the outgrowth of civilization; but
rightly considered, there is no contradiction. For,
on the one hand, man had ceased to be a barbarian
long before the beginning of what we call the historical
period; and, on the other hand, science, of a kind, is
no less a precursor and a cause of civilization than it
is a consequent. To get this clearly in mind, we must
ask ourselves: What, then, is science? The word
runs glibly enough upon the tongue of our every-day
speech, but it is not often, perhaps, that they who use
it habitually ask themselves just what it means. Yet
the answer is not difficult. A little attention will
show that science, as the word is commonly used,
implies these things: first, the gathering of knowledge
through observation; second, the classification of such
knowledge, and through this classification, the elaboration
of general ideas or principles. In the familiar
definition of Herbert Spencer, science is organized
knowledge. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 22 | Author: | Williams, Henry Smith, 1863-1943 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | A History of Science: in Five Volumes. Volume II: The Beginnings of Modern Science | | | | Published: | 2000 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | AN obvious distinction between the classical and
mediæval epochs may be found in the fact that
the former produced, whereas the latter failed to produce,
a few great thinkers in each generation who were
imbued with that scepticism which is the foundation
of the investigating spirit; who thought for themselves
and supplied more or less rational explanations of
observed phenomena. Could we eliminate the work
of some score or so of classical observers and thinkers,
the classical epoch would seem as much a dark age as
does the epoch that succeeded it. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 24 | Author: | Williams, Henry Smith, 1863-1943 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | A History of Science: in Five Volumes. Volume IV: Modern Development of the Chemical and Biological Sciences | | | | Published: | 1998 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | THE development of the science of chemistry from the "science" of
alchemy is a striking example of the complete revolution in the attitude
of observers in the field of science. As has been pointed out in a
preceding chapter, the alchemist, having a preconceived idea of how
things should be, made all his experiments to prove his preconceived
theory; while the chemist reverses this attitude of mind and bases his
conceptions on the results of his laboratory experiments. In short,
chemistry is what alchemy never could be, an inductive science. But this
transition from one point of view to an exactly opposite one was
necessarily a very slow process. Ideas that have held undisputed sway
over the minds of succeeding generations for hundreds of years cannot be
overthrown in a moment, unless the agent of such an overthrow be so
obvious that it cannot be challenged. The rudimentary chemistry that
overthrew alchemy had nothing so obvious and palpable. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 29 | Author: | Wilkins, Mary E. | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The Lost Dog. | | | | Published: | 1995 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | THE dog was speeding, nose to the ground; he had missed his master
early in the morning; now it was late afternoon, but at last he
thought he was on his track. He went like a wind, his ears pointed
ahead, his slender legs seemingly flat against his body; he was
eagerness expressed by a straight line of impetuous motion. He had
had nothing to eat all day; he was spent with anxiety and fatigue
and hunger; but now, now, he believed he was on his master's track,
and all that was forgotten. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 33 | Author: | Wilkins, Mary E. | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Squirrel. | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | THE Squirrel lived with his life-long mate near the farm-house. He
considered himself very rich, because he owned an English walnut
tree. Neither he nor his mate had the least doubt that it belonged
to them and not to the Farmer. There were not many like it in the
State or the whole country. It was a beautiful tree, with a mighty
spread of branches full of gnarled strength. Nearly every year
there was a goodly promise of nuts, which never came to anything,
so far as the people in the farm-house were concerned. Every
summer they looked hopefully at the laden branches, and said to
each other, "This year we shall have nuts," but there were never
any. They could not understand it. But they were old people; had
there been boys in the family it might have been different.
Probably they would have solved the mystery. It was simple enough.
The Squirrel and his mate considered the nuts as theirs, and
appropriated them. They loved nuts; they were their natural
sustenance; and through having an unquestioning, though unwitting,
belief in Providence, they considered that nuts which grew within
their reach were placed there for them as a matter of course.
There were the Squirrels, and there were the nuts. No nuts, no
Squirrels! The conclusion was obvious to such simple
intelligences. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 36 | Author: | Woolf, Virginia | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Night and Day | | | | Published: | 1998 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | IT was a Sunday evening in October, and in common with
many other young ladies of her class, Katharine Hilbery
was pouring out tea. Perhaps a fifth part of her mind was
thus occupied, and the remaining parts leapt over the little
barrier of day which interposed between Monday morning
and this rather subdued moment, and played with the things
one does voluntarily and normally in the daylight. But
although she was silent, she was evidently mistress of a
situation which was familiar enough to her, and inclined to let it
take its way for the six hundredth time, perhaps, without
bringing into play any of her unoccupied faculties. A single
glance was enough to show that Mrs. Hilbery was so rich in
the gifts which make tea-parties of elderly distinguished
people successful, that she scarcely needed any help from her
daughter, provided that the tiresome business of teacups and
bread and butter was discharged for her. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 37 | Author: | Unknown | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | World`s Columbian Exposition at Chicago | | | | Published: | 2000 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | THIS Exposition, the grandest achievement of its kind ever attempted, is under the
auspices of the United States Government. The World's Columbian Exposition Company, an Illinois corporation, prepares ground and buildings, pays the runn!
charge of the finances. The participants in the display include not only the
forty-four states
and five territories of the American nation, but also nearly every foreign
government making it a
wonderfully complete international affair. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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