that commanded the attention of the ancient scribe. So
in dealing with the scientific achievements of these peoples, we shall
perforce consider their varied civilizations as a unity, and attempt,
as best we may, to summarize their achievements as a whole. For the most
part, we shall not attempt to discriminate as to what share in the final
product was due to Sumerian, what to Babylonian, and what to Assyrian.
We shall speak of Babylonian science as including all these elements;
and drawing our information chiefly from the relatively late Assyrian
and Babylonian sources, which, therefore, represent the culminating
achievements of all these ages of effort, we shall attempt to discover
what was the actual status of Mesopotamian science at its climax. In so
far as we succeed, we shall be able to judge what scientific heritage
Europe received from the Orient; for in the records of Babylonian
science we have to do with the Eastern mind at its best. Let us turn to
the specific inquiry as to the achievements of the Chaldean scientist
whose fame so dazzled the eyes of his contemporaries of the classic
world.

BABYLONIAN ASTRONOMY

Our first concern naturally is astronomy, this being here, as in Egypt,
the first-born and the most important of the sciences. The fame of the
Chaldean astronomer was indeed what chiefly commanded the admiration of
the Greeks, and it was through the results of astronomical observations
that Babylonia transmitted her most important influences to the Western
world. "Our division of time is of Babylonian origin," says Hornmel;(7)
"to Babylonia we owe the week of seven days, with the names of the
planets for the days of the week, and the division into hours and
months." Hence the almost personal interest which we of to-day must
needs feel in the efforts of the Babylonian star-gazer.

It must not be supposed, however, that the Chaldean astronomer had
made any very extraordinary advances upon the knowledge of the Egyptian
"watchers of the night." After all, it required patient observation
rather than any peculiar genius in the observer to note in the course of
time such broad astronomical conditions as the regularity of the moon's
phases, and the relation of the lunar periods to the longer periodical
oscillations of the sun. Nor could the curious wanderings of the planets
escape the attention of even a moderately keen observer. The chief
distinction between the Chaldean and Egyptian astronomers appears t