This volume, the first of four, includes the first three of the eight parts in the series. Part One states the major problems and includes some general discussion on the nature and method of science and on the place of science in society. Part Two deals with the emergence of science from the centers of Babylonia, Egypt and India to its full formulation in Greece, where the rational basis for science as we know it was first worked out. Science faded in Rome and Western Europe, only to be synthesized in Syria, Persia, India and China and to emerge again in Europe under the banner of Islam. Part Three deals with the recovery and slow growth of science and technology through Islam and Christendom to the end of the Middle Ages. (Author/TS)