CHAPTER IV 



THE CONTINUITY OF SCIENCE THE MEDIEVAL 



CHURCH AND THE ARABS 



LEARNING has very often and very aptly been 

 compared to a torch passed from hand to hand. By 

 the written sign or spoken word it is transmitted 

 from one person to another. Very little advance in 

 culture could be made even by the greatest man of 

 genius if he were dependent, for what knowledge he 

 might acquire, merely on his own personal observa- 

 tion. Indeed, it might be said that exceptional men- 

 tal ability involves a power to absorb the ideas of 

 others, and even that the most original people are 

 those who are able to borrow the most freely. 



In recalling the lives of certain great men we may 

 at first be inclined to doubt this truth. How shall 

 we account for the part played in the progress of 

 civilization by the rustic Burns, the village-bred 

 Shakespeare, or by Lincoln the frontiersman? When, 

 however, we scrutinize the case of any one of these, 

 we discover, of course, exceptional natural endow- 

 ment, susceptibility to mental influence, remarkable 

 powers of acquisition, but no ability to produce any- 

 thing absolutely original. In the case of Lincoln, 

 for example, we find that in his youth he was as 

 distinguished by diligence in study as by physical 

 stature and prowess. After he withdrew from 

 school, he read, wrote, and ciphered (in the inter- 

 vals of manual work) almost incessantly. He read 



