University of Maryland at College Park -- Spring 2004

HIST 174 -- Introduction to History of Science

Instructions for First Writing Assignment

Write a short essay on either one of the following two topics, based on your analysis and interpretation of the readings listed.  You should obtain your own copies of the online version of the readings for your topic.  Consult your Teaching Assistant if you have any difficulty.  The essay should be 750 to 1250 words, not counting quotes and references; it is due at your section meeting, the week of March 1-5.

(1) Does the Earth move around the Sun or does the Sun move around the Earth?


(a) Book I, Parts 1, 2, & 3, starting "the science which has to do with nature" and ending "...motion away from and motion towards the centre" (online version, from bottom of page 1 to top of page 5)

(b) Book II, Parts 13 & 14, starting "it remains to speak of the earth" and ending "it is not of great size" (online version, bottom of page 12 through page 18)

    Copernicus, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies

(c) Preface (Dedication to Pope Paul III), http://www.historyguide.org/earlymod/dedication.html starting "I can readily imagine" and ending "to make some contribution" (online version pp. 1-3)

(d) text excerpts, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1543copernicus2.html, starting "That the universe is spherical" and ending "which is most peculiar to the earth" (online version pages 1-4)

You may also look at the explanation of retrograde motion,
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/retrograde/copernican.html

You may also use the Holton & Brush, Physics text, chapters 1 & 2, for background, but the essay should be based primarily on the Aristotle and Copernicus texts.  Don't use any information that was not known to most astronomers by the end of the 16th century.


(2) Did living things evolve by natural selection or were they designed in their present form by a Creator?


(a) Chapters I-III, pages 1-42 in original, starting "In crossing a health" [i.e. "heath"] and ending "does not convey a false idea" (online version, bottom of page 3 to top of page 17)

(b) Chapter VI, pages 75-77 in original, starting "Were there no example" and ending "from the force of the example" (online, bottom of p. 27 to middle to p. 28)


(c) Introduction, starting "When on board" and ending "main but not exclusive means of modification" (online version pp. 1-4)

(d) Chapter 4, starting "How will the struggle" and ending "vary like every other structure" (online version, page 1 to middle of page 5)

(e) Chapter 6, starting "He who believes" and ending "actually converted into organs of flight" (online version, from top of p. 9 to bottom of p. 12)

(f) Chapter 14, starting "As this whole volume is one long argument" and ending "have been, and are being, evolved" (online version, pages 1-18)

You may also use the HIST 174 Lecture Notes, Chapters C1-C4, for background, but your essay should be based primarily on the Paley and Darwin texts.  Don't use any information that was not known to most biologists by the time of Darwin's death (1882).