Includes bibliographical references (pages 247-250) and index.
Contents
Historical importance of a theory of impetus -- Conservatism of Copernicus -- Study of the heart down to William Harvey -- Downfall of Aristotle and Ptolemy -- Experimental method in seventeenth century -- Bacon and Descartes -- Effect of the scientific revolution on the non-mechanical sciences -- History of the modern theory of gravitation -- Transition of the Philosophe movement in the reign of Louis XIV -- Place of the scientific revolution in the history of western civilisation -- Postponed scientific revolution in chemistry -- Ideas of progress and ideas of evolution.