JF Ptak Science Books  Quick Post

Sharing space in the January 1920 issue of The Scientific Monthly with two significant papers is an unusual data visualization in James Breasted’s article “The Origins of Civilization”.  Leading the issue off is the wonderfully-presented and important paper (“Defects Found in Drafted Men”) by C.B. Davenport and A.G. Love, which is a remarkable display of an enormous amount of data on the health of young men in the U.S. presented in a graphical display, the results of medical examinations of millions entering military service during WWI. Following this is a report by Sir Joseph Thompson (“The Deflection of Light by Gravitation and the Einstein Theory of Relativity”) on the gravity/eclipse/relativity experiment in May 1919, which he referred to as  “the greatest achievement in the history of human thought”. And then comes the Barbarism/Civilization dataviz of the Breasted article.  I’m having a bit of fun with this at Breasted’s expense, as it looks as though he is measuring the progress of Barbarism to Civilization and the subsequent increases in culture to the depths/heights of monuments for the dead, from sand pit to pyramid, 4000-2800 BCE:

[The text here becomes clearer when expanded.]

It is an arresting image, to be sure, but the direction it takes seems a little suspect to me. In any event, I reproduce it here for general enjoyment.