In discussions concerned with its history, rigid or narrow interpretations of the term ‘science ‘are to be avoided. The purpose of examining the history of science is, apart from mere antiquarianism, the desire to place modern science in a perspective whcredit may be seen in relation to other human activities, past, present and, perhaps, future; and to that purpose all from which science has grown is relevant. Mathematics may not be science, but Greek physios developed in great measure from geometry. The Egyptian goldsmith and Assyrian potter were not men of science, but chemistry developed from their labours; and between the beginnings of the use of tools and the industrial civilisation of to-day there is no moment of which we may say ‘Here began Science.’ In the words of Roger Bacon (Compendia Studii., Cap. v, quoted by Duhem) :

But, in agreeing to allow a wide interpretation to the term Science, we are not to forget that we shall include therein several different activities, notably those of the craftsman, the observer of nature, the philosopher and ontologist, the histories of which may not always, especially in the early period, be very closely linked.