Science.— At a remote date man became an observer of the overhead and of things about him. Peopling the overhead and every nook and cranny on earth with beings kindly or malicious was the sum total of his attempts to know the world he lived in. The desire to know how these kindly or malicious spirits wrought their will, resulted in the great com plicated system of astrology and divination which possessed the world for so long a time and still has a large place in it. The elaborate observations necessary to the working out of astrological schemes led to the disc,overy or invention of time divisions, a matter of utmost importance to commercial and industrial life. As early as ac. 4241 in Egypt a calendar di vided tnto days and weeks and months very similar to our own and containing 365 days in the year was in use. Without such a tinie measurement contracts of any sort could not be made, nor ag.reements entered into. The necessity of dividing time into small divisions to measure the length of time a man should work, led to the invention of the clock —a water or sand clock. What is known as the oldest clock in the world is the °shadow clock') bearing the name of Thutmose III, c. ac. 1400. These primitive observations furnished the material out of which was eventually fashioned the science of astronomy which has done so much to rid man of the terrors of astral and meteorological spirits and make long distance navigation possible. Reasoning from what he learned from the ancient Babylonian astro nonilcal lists, Thales told the people to expect an eclipse of the sun before the end of the year ac. 585. Centuries before Babylonian astrono mers had sometimes predicted eclipses, but the importance of the prediction of Thales is that it led him and others to realize for the first time that eclipses and other strange happen ings in the slcy were due not to the anger or whim of gods but to the operations of natural laws,—the first real break with superstition. The understanding of the forces and operations of nature had begun and the. way was open to the serviceable use of natural forces. Eratos thenes, ac. 200, suggested that the earth was round, that India could be reached by sailing to the westward and with surprising accuracy he computed the size of the earth. Aristarchus, c. ac. 150, demonstrated that the earth and planets revolve around the sun. All ideas that give man a greater mastery, boost civiliza tion. Such is the idea suggested in the Jacob story, Gen. xxx, 37, c. ac. 850, that the char acter of the offspring of cattle can be con trolled; and the belief set forth in Jer. xxxi, 29 that the conduct of parents affects the unborn generations.
The three centuries preceding the Christian ern are notable for many important mechanical inventions or discovenes. Archimedes of Syracuse, ac. 287 to 212, invented the pulley and lever. Screws and cranks and cogwheels and waterwheels and the endless chain came into use at this time. Euclid perfected his geometry.
Medicine.-- For long centuries the people on earth were few because human mortality was exceedingly high. From the first, man suf fered grievously from disease and deformities. Such conditions were an almost insuperable obstacle to the advance of civilization. Little is known of prehistoric medicine. Whether the trepanned skulls found in prehistoric strata are instances of surgery or a religious cere mony is an open question. The amulet fre quently worn by neolithic peoples, c. a.c. 9000, is the best clue we have to 'the character of pre historic medicine. During most of the his toric period back of the Christian ern, sickness, being considered the result of demon posses sion or other supernatural influence, cures were to be had by exorcism, incantation and prayers. The library of Assurhanipal has furnished a mass of literature descriptive of the disease demons and the prescriptions supposed to pos sess the required potency to rout them. Simi lar prescnptions come from Egypt dating back to ac. 3000. Other conceptions of disease and cures were in existence as witness the seal of a Babylonian physician, Ur-Lugal-Edina, which shows as symbols of his profession, scalpel, lancets (or knives) and cups. The laws relat ing to doctors in the code of Hammurabi give a hint of what was being done to combat dis ease and deformity. The scientific treatment of disease may be said to begin with the labors of Hippocrates, a.c. 460-377. By his researches and discoveries in anatomy and physiologjtr, made possible by the opportunity for the vivi section of criminals granted him by the king of Egypt, Herophilus, c. a.c. 300, laid the foun
dation for surgery and a more scientific medi cine.
Religion.— Religion has played its part in helping and hindering and shaping civilization. The discovery at Le Moustier of the skeleton of a youth belonging to the Neanderthal race, c. B.C. 40000, with indications.that a food offer ing had been made at his burial, is taken by some to show that at this early date man had some sort of belief in immortality. Apart from this instance of doubtful significance there are no other hints of religion until late Aurignacian times, c. B.c. 20000. Belonging to this period and widely scattered throughout Europe have been found statuettes of limestone and soap stone and plastic models of the female figure. These statuettes, Usually about four and a half inches high, are believed to be household gods of these primitive folk and were carried with them in their wanderings as was done by the Hebrews some 19,000 years later (Gen. xxxi, 19). Of religion as organized around the altar or systematized into ntual, there is little evi dence from prehistoric times. The belief in spirit survival which plainly prevailed among the prehistoric peoples influenced the habits of men and women. By about ac. 8000 Icings and chiefs were buried with considerable pomp and ceremonial, and whether for the purpose of appeasing the spirits of the departed or recalling to mind the virtues and wqrthy deeds of thc dead we do not know, but it became the custom for the people to gather regularly at the tombs and hold high festival. Such festivities drew the bonds of fraternity a little tig.hter, the sense of conununity interest was quickened, and the friendly rivalry in the sports of the occasion put a little finer spirit into human relationships.
When man steps out into the increasing light of history, religion is conspicuous in his activ ities. He worships gods which are usually fear ful and many, and believes that these gods cause all things to happen. Man does not con trol himself but the gods control him. It is difficult to estimate the influence on a person's character which must have been wrought by the belief that the gods watched him; that what he did either pleased or angered the gods. The whole political structure of the world at and since that early time has been greatly affected by the close association of temple and palace, ruler and priest, and the inevitable rise of the idea of the sanctity of the person of the Icing and the infallibility of his comtnands. King Gudea of Lagash, c. a.c. 2400, was deified and worshipped and the Egyptian kings of the fifth dynasty, c. a.c. 3500, claimed descent from the Sun god Ra. The choice of Saul as king, I Sam. x, 1, is another instance. Religion in fluenced architecture. It created the ziggurat, most conspicuous in Babylonian architecture; it fashioned the pyramids of Egypt and its great temples; the famous Greek temples and the development of art and sculpture are but the outward expression of the religious impulse and ideas. The belief that the gods could be in fluenced or their will learned by mysterious rites performed by specially equipped persons created the priesthood and gave it a' great con trol of human affairs, making the pnesthood a large factor in the process of civilization. The idea of deity as law-giver also profoundly affected human conduct. It gave to the crudely civilized man of c. B.C. 3000 a reason for obe dience to law more powerful than any that had yet pressed upon him. Hammurabi is pictured, c. ac. 2200, as receiving the law from Shamash, the god of law and justice. A similar origin is given to the Mosaic law. It is the deity that demands a certain kind of conduct and punishes the contrary. It was a momentous thing for civilization when, as in Amos, ac..750, the deity denounces hard-heartedness, greed, oppression, corruption, and the high value in the other world of good deeds and lcindness here, as pictured in the Egyptian Book of the Dead about B.C. 3000, must have awakened a sen.se of the eternal importance of right living. The civilizing value of the idea of a God as a God of Righteousness proclaimed by the Hebrew prophets ha.s even yet not been fully realized, and when under Josiah social justice was made virtually a religion, religion was destined to play a greater part in lifting civiliza tion to higher levels.