_ 2 An Outline of the History of the Western European Mind_, by James Harvey Robinson. The New School for Social Research, New York, 1919. This little volume gives condensed statements, as in a nutshell, of the historical developments of the human mind and contains a long list of the most substantial modern books on historical questions. All the further historical quotations will be taken from this exceptionally valuable little book, and for convenience they will simply be marked by his initials—J. H. R. 3 (J. H. R.) “Late appearance of a definite theory of progress. Excessive conservatism of primitive peoples. The Greeks speculated on the origin of things, but they did not have a conception of the possibility of indefinite progress ... Progress of man from the earliest time till the opening of the 17th century almost altogether unconscious.... Fundamental weakness of Hellenic learning. It was an imposing collection of speculation, opinions, and guesses, which, however brilliant and ingenious they might be, were based on a very slight body of exact knowledge, and failed to recognize the fundamental necessity of painful scientific research, aided by apparatus. There was no steady accumulation of knowledge to offset the growing emotional distrust of reason.... Unfulfilled promise of Hellenistic science. Influence of slavery in checking the development of science.... The deficiencies of Medieval culture. All the weaknesses of the Hellenic reasoning, combined with those of the Christian Fathers, underlay what appeared to be a most logically elaborated and definitive system of thought. Defects of the university education.... Little history of Natural science, in our sense of the word, taught in the universities.... Copernicus, ‘De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium.’ Libri VI, 1543.... Copernicus’ own introduction acknowledges his debt to ancient philosophers. Still believed in fixed Starry Sphere. His discovery had little immediate effect on prevailing notions. Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) made it his chief business to think out and set forth in Latin and Italian the implications of the discovery of Copernicus.... Bruno burned by the Inquisition at Rome.... Keppler (1571-1630) and his discovery of the elliptical orbits of the planets. Galileo (1564-1642). His telescope speedily improved so as to magnify 32 diameters. His attitude toward the Copernican theory, which was condemned by Roman Inquisition 1616.... Galileo’s chief discoveries were in physics and mechanics. Isaac Newton (1642-1727) proved that the laws of falling bodies apply to the heavens. This made a deep impression and finally the newer conceptions of the universe began to be popularized.... Lord Bacon (1561-1626), the ‘Buccinator’ of