Here is White, Andrew Dickson White, on Eusebius:
"Speaking of the innovations in physical science, he said: 'It is not through ignorance of the things admired by them, but through contempt of their useless labor, that we think little of these matters, turning our souls to better things.'"
This is from The Warfare of Science By Andrew Dickson White Second edition Henry S. Kings & Co. London, 1877. Accessed through Google Books.*
In passing, note that an editor in London respected White's American "labor" without correcting it to "labour". Since then, editors have become a bit uselessly punctilious about the received orthography of their own country.
Now, it was on page 11, it gives a footnote 1 which says See Eusebius, Præp. Ev. XV., 61.
Now, I go to Præparatio Evangelica, book 15** and scroll down to chapter LXI:
CHAPTER LXI ---- OF THE EXILING FACULTY.
'PLATO, Democritus: it is in the head as a whole.
'Straton: between the eyebrows.
'Erasistratus: about the membrane of the brain, which he calls the epicranis.
'Herophilus: in the cavity of the brain, which is also its base.
'Parmenides: in the breast as a whole.
'Epicurus, and all the Stoics: in the heart as a whole.
'Diogenes: in the arterial cavity of the heart, which is full of breath.
'Empedocles in the composition of the blood.
'Others in the membrane of the pericardium: and others in the diaphragm. Some of the more recent philosophers say that it reaches through from the head to the diaphragm.
'Pythagoras: the vital power is around the heart; but the rational , and intelligent faculty in the region of the head.'
So far, then, as to their opinions on these matters. Do you not think therefore that with judgement and reason we have justly kept aloof from the unprofitable and erroneous and vain labour of them all, and do not busy ourselves at all about the said subjects (for we do not see the utility of them, nor any tendency to benefit and gain good for mankind), but cling solely to piety towards God the creator of all things, and by a life of temperance, and all godly behaviour according to virtue, strive to live in a manner pleasing to Him who is God over all?
But if even you from malice and envy hesitate to admit our true testimony, you shall be again anticipated by Socrates, the wisest of all Greeks, who has truthfully declared his votes in our favour. Those meteorological babblers, for instance, he used to expose in their folly, and say that they were no better than madmen, expressly convicting them not merely of striving after things unattainable, but also of wasting time about things useless and unprofitable to man's life. And this shall be testified to you by our former witness Xenophon, one of the best-known of the companions of Socrates, who writes as follows in his Memorabilia:
[omitting chapter LXII which is the quote from Memorabilia]
So, the point was not at all about "innovations in physical science" but about diverse fairly unsubstantiated opinions the ancients had on what is now called neurology and neuropsychology.
If you are anything like White, but live now as opposed to having died in 1918, as he did, you will love neuropsychology. However, you will also note that Standardized neuropsychological tests, Brain scans, Global Brain Project, Electrophysiology, Experimental tasks like the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) were, all of these, not available to Plato, Democritus, Straton, Erasistratus, Herophilus, Parmenides, Epicurus, Diogenes, Empedocles, Pythagoras and others.
Eusebius speaks about "vain labour" because of the disagreement and inconclusiveness. If the labour had been fruitful, there would have been a conclusion that was generally accepted. Now, the subject here did not give such a conclusion, and therefore was, in the opinion of Eusebius a vain labour - much like Draper White fans love to brandish the historical as well as present multiplicity of Christian sects and interpretations as a reason to reject Theology as a vain labour.
Introducing the quote, which was verbally correct, by the very misleading relation "Speaking of the innovations in physical science" is simply dishonest.
About as dishonest as an Evangelical speaking on Roman Catholicism (I had a video*** with Dr. John Barnett pretending to debunk Oral Tradition, and it was incredibly misleading and I cannot say other than dishonest, if only intellectually and to himself).
In fact, I think White may have considered that the words referred not only to neuroscience, but to things mentioned before the parts of the soul, but the problem is, cosmology before Magellan was also fairly immature. And non-geoentrism still is:
CHAPTER LV ---- OF THE EARTH.
'THALES and his followers say that the Earth is one.
'Hicetas the Pythagorean says that there are two, this and the antipodal earth.
'The Stoics: the Earth is one, and finite.
'Xenophanes: from the lower part its roots reach into infinity, and it is composed of air and fire.
'Metrodorus: the Earth is the deposit and sediment of the water, and the Sun of the air.'
CHAPTER LVI ---- OF THE FIGURE OF THE EARTH.
'THALES and the Stoics: the Earth is spherical.
'Anaximander: it is like a stone pillar supporting the surfaces.
'Anaximenes: like a table.
'Leucippus: like a kettle-drum.
'Democritus: like a disk in its extension, but hollow in the middle.'
CHAPTER LVII ---- OF THE POSITION OF THE EARTH.
'THE followers of Thales say the Earth is the centre.
'Xenophanes: the Earth first, for its roots reach into infinity.
'Philolaus the Pythagorean: first, fire in the centre; for this is the hearth of the universe: second, the antipodal Earth, and third, the Earth which we inhabit, opposite to the antipodal both in situation and revolution; in consequence of which the inhabitants of the antipodal Earth are not seen by those in this Earth.
'Parmenides was the first to mark off the inhabited parts of the Earth under the two tropical zones.'
CHAPTER LVIII ---- OF THE EARTH'S MOTION.
44 'ALL the others say that the Earth is at rest.
'But Philolaus the Pythagorean says that it revolves round the fire in an oblique circle, in like manner as the Sun and Moon.
'Heracleides of Pontus, and Ecphantus the Pythagorean make the Earth move, not however by change of place, but by rotation, turning like a wheel on an axle, from west to east, about its own centre.
'Democritus: at first the Earth used to change its place, owing to its smallness and lightness; but as in the course of time it grew dense and heavy, it became stationary.'
After the utterance of these different opinions by the noble philosophers concerning the Earth, hear now what they say of the Sea.
One cannot say this was "innovations in physical science" because there was so little to know. It was variations in speculation. Fairly free variations in fairly free speculations. But, yes, if White was referring to this and considering Philolaos, Heracleides and Ecphantus as precursors of Galileo, he was even slightly more honest than Dr. John Barnett. However, at least very ill advised.
Hans Georg Lundahl
Nanterre UL
Sts. Rufus and Zosimus
18.XII.2018
* The Warfare of Science
Andrew Dickson White
Henry S. King & Company, 1877 - Religion and science - 151 pages
https://books.google.fr/books?id=K0EXAAAAYAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s
** Eusebius of Caesarea: Praeparatio Evangelica (Preparation for the Gospel). Tr. E.H. Gifford (1903) -- Book 15
http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/eusebius_pe_15_book15.htm
*** Here is the video:
Catholic Oral Tradition
DTBM OnlineVideoTraining | 5.XII.2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJCk_WCZdNw
And here is my debunking of it:
Assorted retorts from yahoo boards and elsewhere : Answering Dr. John Barnett on Catholic Oral Tradition
https://assortedretorts.blogspot.com/2018/12/answering-dr-john-barnett-on-catholic.html
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