\Sci"ence\, n. [F., fr. L. scientia, fr. sciens, -entis,
p. pr. of scire to know. Cf. {Conscience}, {Conscious},
{Nice}.]
1. Knowledge; knowledge of principles and causes; ascertained
   truth of facts.
         If we conceive God's sight or science, before the
         creation, to be extended to all and every part of
         the world, seeing everything as it is, . . . his
         science or sight from all eternity lays no necessity
         on anything to come to pass.          --Hammond.
         Shakespeare's deep and accurate science in mental
         philosophy.                           --Coleridge.
2. Accumulated and established knowledge, which has been
   systematized and formulated with reference to the
   discovery of general truths or the operation of general
   laws; knowledge classified and made available in work,
   life, or the search for truth; comprehensive, profound, or
   philosophical knowledge.
         All this new science that men lere [teach].
                                               --Chaucer.
         Science is . . . a complement of cognitions, having,
         in point of form, the character of logical
         perfection, and in point of matter, the character of
         real truth.                           --Sir W.
                                               Hamilton.
3. Especially, such knowledge when it relates to the physical
   world and its phenomena, the nature, constitution, and
   forces of matter, the qualities and functions of living
   tissues, etc.; -- called also {natural science}, and
   {physical science}.
         Voltaire hardly left a single corner of the field
         entirely unexplored in science, poetry, history,
         philosophy.                           --J. Morley.
4. Any branch or department of systematized knowledge
   considered as a distinct field of investigation or object
   of study; as, the science of astronomy, of chemistry, or
   of mind.
Note: The ancients reckoned seven sciences, namely, grammar,
      rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, music, geometry, and
      astronomy; -- the first three being included in the
      Trivium, the remaining four in the Quadrivium.
            Good sense, which only is the gift of Heaven, And
            though no science, fairly worth the seven.
                                               --Pope.
5. Art, skill, or expertness, regarded as the result of
   knowledge of laws and principles.
         His science, coolness, and great strength. --G. A.
                                               Lawrence.
Note: Science is applied or pure. Applied science is a
      knowledge of facts, events, or phenomena, as explained,
      accounted for, or produced, by means of powers, causes,
      or laws. Pure science is the knowledge of these powers,
      causes, or laws, considered apart, or as pure from all
      applications. Both these terms have a similar and
      special signification when applied to the science of
      quantity; as, the applied and pure mathematics. Exact
      science is knowledge so systematized that prediction
      and verification, by measurement, experiment,
      observation, etc., are possible. The mathematical and
      physical sciences are called the exact sciences.
{Comparative sciences}, {Inductive sciences}. See under
   {Comparative}, and {Inductive}.
Syn: Literature; art; knowledge.
Usage: {Science}, {Literature}, {Art}. Science is literally
       knowledge, but more usually denotes a systematic and
       orderly arrangement of knowledge. In a more
       distinctive sense, science embraces those branches of
       knowledge of which the subject-matter is either
       ultimate principles, or facts as explained by
       principles or laws thus arranged in natural order. The
       term literature sometimes denotes all compositions not
       embraced under science, but usually confined to the
       belles-lettres. [See {Literature}.] Art is that which
       depends on practice and skill in performance. ``In
       science, scimus ut sciamus; in art, scimus ut
       producamus. And, therefore, science and art may be
       said to be investigations of truth; but one, science,
       inquires for the sake of knowledge; the other, art,
       for the sake of production; and hence science is more
       concerned with the higher truths, art with the lower;
       and science never is engaged, as art is, in productive
       application. And the most perfect state of science,
       therefore, will be the most high and accurate inquiry;
       the perfection of art will be the most apt and
       efficient system of rules; art always throwing itself
       into the form of rules.'' --Karslake.

\Sci"ence\, v. t.
To cause to become versed in science; to make skilled; to
instruct. [R.] --Francis.