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1995-01-16
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ESSAY 51
THE MYTH OF THE AGE
The Greeks explained the world with stories that we now
collectively call Greek mythology. The word "mythology" comes
from a compound Greek word, MYTHOS, "story" and LOGOS, "word,
doctrine, discussion, or account" of anything. Mythology is
the
. . .study of the traditional tales of any people
or of mankind in general. . . . . . .the oldest
myths seem to have been the creation of some of the
best minds among early peoples. These minds, un-
trained in reasoning and with very little factual
knowledge to guide them, had a certain creative
power, comparable to that of a poet or other
artist. . . . By virtue of this they shaped a
kind of vision, crude indeed, and often absurd or
even revolting, of the reality which they dimly
guessed to lie behind the bewildering phenomena
surrounding them. This vision was as yet far from
being scientific or philosophical thought, but it
was in some sense the forerunner of both. Because
these minds had as yet no approach to a scientific
or philosophical vocabulary, it necessarily ex-
pressed itself in a kind of imagery which may per-
haps justifiably be called symbolic. (ENCYCLOPAEDIA
BRITANNICA, 1963 ed., s.v. "Mythology," by Herbert
Jennings Rose. Mr. Rose was Professor of Greek,
University of St. Andrews, Scotland 1927-53).
Not only did the Greeks fabricate myths, but other nations
did also. Some national myths resemble myths of other
nations. As we examine the past stories to explain the world,
they contain many ideas so far fetched that the word "myth"
seems to fit the stories well.
Myths are generally divided into two categories: (1)
creation myths and (2) explanatory myths. (THE WORLD BOOK
ENCYCLOPEDIA, 1987 ed., s.v. "Mythology," by C . Scott
Littleton).
From our twentieth century perspective and scientific
knowledge, we can readily distinguish the fantasy from the
fiction. However, if we had lived in past cultures, we pro-
bably would have believed the prevailing myths of the time!
This complex of many commonly-accepted myths, taken together,
we will call the "Myth of the Age."
The roots of science (from Latin, SCIENTIA, "knowledge')
reach back in ancient history. The Egyptians understood
astronomy well enough to know when to predict annual Nile
flooding and when to forecast the seasons about 3000 B.C.
The ancient Babylonians developed a system of counting in
units of 60, and understood fractions, squares and square
roots. They were able to predict eclipses. Then later, by
1300 B.C., the Chinese had mapped the major stars. Ancient
India developed surgical techniques and preventative medi-
cine. India also invented the Hindu-Arabic numerals still
in use today. The ancient Greeks produced more unrefined
scientific knowledge than any other ancient people. (THE
WORLD BOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA, 1987 ed., s.v. "Science," by Joseph
W. Dauben).
Some highlights in the history of science are:
400 BC--Hippocrates taught that diseases have
natural causes.
300 BC--Euclid organized geometry as a single
system of mathematics.
200 BC--Archimedes discovered the laws of the lever
and the pulley.
AD 150--Ptolemy proposed that the earth is the
center of the universe. Galen developed the first
medical theories based on experiments.
1500--Leonardo da Vinci studied anatomy, astronomy,
botany and geology.
1543--Nicolaus Copernicus introduced the theory
that the planets revolved around the sun (the sun-
centered theory).
1609--Johannes Kepler established astronomy as an
exact science. Galileo Galilei made the first
telescope to view the heavens, and confirmed the
sun-centered theory.
1628--William Harvey published his theory of how
the blood circulates.
1650--Robert Hooke used the microscope to uncover
the world of cells. Robert Boyle helped establish
thecexperimental method in chemistry.
1710--Carl Scheele and Joseph Priestley indepen-
dently discovered oxygen.
1776--Adam Smith published the first complete work
on classical economics.
1777--Antoine Lavoisier discovered the nature of
combustion.
1830--Charles Lyell showed that the earth has
changed slowly during the ages.
1850--Louis Pasteur discovered that certain kinds
of microscopic cells cause disease.
1860--James Clerk Maxwell developed his electro-
magnetic theory.
1869--Dmitri Mendeleev published his periodic table
of the elements.
1879--Wilhelm Wundt founded one of the first psy-
chology laboratories.
1898--Marie and Pierre Curie isolated the element
radium.
1900--Sigmund Freud established the field of psy-
choanalysis. Paul Ehrlich originated the treatment
of diseases with chemicals.
1905--Albert Einstein published his special theory
of relativity.
1911--Ernest Rutherford put forth his theory of
atomic structure.
1928--Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, the
first antibiotic.
1942--Enrico Fermi and co-workers achieved the
first controlled nuclear chain reaction.
1953--Jonas Salk produced the first effective polio
vaccine.
1957--The Soviet Union launched the first artifi-
cial satellite.
1969--Astronauts of the US Apollo 11 mission were
the first humans to walk on the moon.
1974--Researchers developed the first successful
recombinant DNA procedure.
1981--The United States launched the Columbia, the
first reusable manned spacecraft. [THE WORLD BOOK
ENCYCLOPEDIA, 1987 ed., s.v. "Science," by Joseph
W. Dauben]. [Thomas H. Greer, A BRIEF HISTORY OF
WESTERN MAN. (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich,
Inc., 1977), p. 353].
In the history of science, it is evident that yesterday's
myth is being purged of some error and improved. We have
learned not to bleed patients, to wash our hands before sur-
gery, that the earth is not flat, etc. Today's myth should
also be purged by further scientific discoveries in the
future and replaced with a better "myth of the age". Lord
willing, a thousand years from now, people will look back on
our "scientific" knowledge as simply myths!
END