52 THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



mentaries of Averroes that Aristotelian science be- 

 came known in Europe during the Middle Ages. In 

 his view Aristotle was the founder and perfecter of 

 science ; yet he showed an independent knowledge of 

 physics and chemistry, and wrote on astronomy and 

 medicine as well as philosophy. He set forth the 

 facts in reference to natural phenomena purely in 

 the interests of the truth. He could not conceive of 

 anything being created from nothing. At the same 

 time he taught that God is the essence, the eternal 

 cause, of progress. It is in humanity that intellect 

 most clearly reveals itself, but there is a transcend- 

 ent intellect beyond, union with which is the highest 

 bliss of the individual soul. With the death of the 

 Commentator the culture of liberal science among 

 the Arabs came to an end, but his influence (and 

 through him that of Aristotle) was perpetuated in all 

 the western centers of education. 



The preservation of the ancient learning had not, 

 however, depended solely on the Arabs. At the be- 

 ginning of the sixth century, before the taking of 

 Alexandria by the followers of Mohammed, St. Bene- 

 dict had founded the monastery of Monte Cassino in 

 Itafe Here was begun the copying of manuscripts, 

 and the preparation of compendiums treating of 

 grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, arithmetic, astronomy, 

 music, and geometry. These were based on ancient 

 Roman writings. Works like Pliny's Natural His- 

 tory, the encyclopedia of the Middle Ages, had sur- 

 vived all the wars by which Rome had been devas- 

 tated. Learning, which in Rome's darkest days had 

 found refuge in Britain and Ireland, returned book 

 in hand. Charlemagne (800) called Alcuin from 



