Thales
should partake somewhat of mystery; that the scene may not be shifted
too suddenly from the vague, impersonal East to the individualism of
Europe.

All of this, however, must not be taken as casting any doubt upon the
existence of Thales as a real person. Even the dates of his life--640 to
546 B.C.--may be accepted as at least approximately trustworthy; and the
specific discoveries ascribed to him illustrate equally well the stage
of development of Greek thought, whether Thales himself or one of his
immediate disciples were the discoverer. We have already mentioned the
feat which was said to have given Thales his great reputation. That
Thales was universally credited with having predicted the famous eclipse
is beyond question. That he actually did predict it in any precise sense
of the word is open to doubt. At all events, his prediction was not
based upon any such precise knowledge as that of the modern astronomer.
There is, indeed, only one way in which he could have foretold the
eclipse, and that is through knowledge of the regular succession of
preceding eclipses. But that knowledge implies access on the part of
some one to long series of records of practical observations of the
heavens. Such records, as we have seen, existed in Egypt and even
more notably in Babylonia. That these records were the source of the
information which established the reputation of Thales is an unavoidable
inference. In other words, the magical prevision of the father of Greek
thought was but a reflex of Oriental wisdom. Nevertheless, it sufficed
to establish Thales as the father of Greek astronomy. In point of fact,
his actual astronomical attainments would appear to have been meagre
enough. There is nothing to show that he gained an inkling of the true
character of the solar system. He did not even recognize the sphericity
of the earth, but held, still following the Oriental authorities, that
the world is a flat disk. Even his famous cosmogonic guess, according to
which water is the essence of all things and the primordial element
out of which the earth was developed, is but an elaboration of the
Babylonian conception.

When we turn to the other field of thought with which the name of Thales
is associated--namely, geometry--we again find evidence of the Oriental
influence. The science of geometry, Herodotus assures us, was invented
in Egypt. It was there an eminently practical science, being applied, as
the name literally sugges