HINDU, ARABIAN AND MOORISH SCIENCE 167 



nished Europe with one of the most serviceable strains of that 

 useful animal, and many Arabian words have been adopted 

 into our language, e.g. alcohol, elixir, algebra, alembic, zenith, 

 nadir, etc. 



"... Under the caliphs, Moslem Spain became the richest, most 

 populous, and most enlightened country in Europe. The palaces, 

 the mosques, bridges, aqueducts, and private dwellings reached a 

 luxury and beauty of which a shadow still remains in the great mosque 

 of Cordova. New industries, particularly silk weaving, flourished 

 exceedingly, 13,000 looms existing in Cordova alone. Agriculture, 

 aided by perfect systems of irrigation for the first time in Europe, 

 was carried to a high degree of perfection, many fruits, trees and 

 vegetables hitherto unknown being introduced from the East. Mining 

 and metallurgy, glass making, enamelling, and damascening kept whole 

 populations busy and prosperous. From Malaga, Seville, and Almeria 

 went ships to all parts of the Mediterranean loaded with the rich 

 produce of Spanish Moslem taste and industry, and of the natural and 

 cultivated wealth of the land. Caravans bore to farthest India and 

 darkest Africa the precious tissues, the marvels of metal work, the 

 enamels, and precious stones of Spain. All the luxury, culture, and 

 beauty that the Orient could provide in return, found its way to the 

 Moslem cities of the Peninsula. The schools and libraries of Spain were 

 famous throughout the world ; science and learning were cultivated 

 and taught as they never had been before. Jew and Moslem, in the 

 friendly rivalry of letters, made their country illustrious for all time 

 by the productions of their study. . . . The schools of Cordova, 

 Toledo, Seville, and Saragossa attained a celebrity which subsequently 

 attracted to them students from all parts of the world. At first the 

 principal subjects of study were literary, such as rhetoric, poetry, 

 history, philosophy, and the like, for the fatalism of the faith of Islam 

 to some extent retarded the adoption of scientific studies. To these, 

 however, the Spanish Jews opened the way, and when the barriers were 

 broken down, the Arabs themselves entered with avidity into the 

 domain of science. Cordova then became the centre of scientific 

 investigation. Medicine and surgery especially were pursued with 

 intense diligence and success, and veterinary surgery may be said to 

 have there first crystallized into a science. Botany and pharmacy 

 also had their famous professors, and astronomy was studied and 



