In scientific work it seems as if the Greeks had done
almost all that could be accomplished by sheer brain power aided only by rude
instruments. They had no real telescopes or microscopes, no mariner's compass
or chronometer, and no very delicate balances. Without such inventions the
Greeks could hardly proceed much farther with their researches. Modern
scientists are perhaps no better thinkers than were those of antiquity, but
they have infinitely better apparatus and can make careful experiments where
the Greeks had to rely on shrewd guesses.
EXTENSION OF GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE
During the Hellenistic Age men began to gain more accurate
ideas regarding the shape and size of the habitable globe. Such events as the
expedition of the "Ten Thousand" and Alexander's conquests in
central Asia and India brought new information about the countries and peoples
of the Orient. During Alexander's lifetime a Greek named Pytheas, starting from
Massilia, made an adventurous voyage along the shores of Spain and Gaul
and spent some time in Britain. He was probably the first Greek to visit that
island.
