47 6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



prejudices prevalent even among the savants. We must not lose sight 

 of the mental condition of all men in those times. If we keep this 

 in view, we shall, instead of despising the men who first put the ques- 

 tion just stated, wonder how at that stage of intellectual progress it 

 could have suggested itself to any mind. Certain it is that the most 

 learned (so small was their amount of science, and so peculiar were 

 the settled opinions of their age) were not ready to discuss other sub- 

 jects. 



They soon brought their discussions before their pupils, and from 

 among these the debate found its way into society : kings, nobles, 

 and burgesses talked about it, and as a consequence talked about the 

 points of knowledge necessary to solve the question. This was a 

 slow operation indeed. It took eight centuries before the controversy 

 was settled. 



Yet, in time, hundreds of other questions grew out of this single 

 one, and it became necessary to settle all the minor objections and 

 issues before the main one could be concluded upon. What is soul ? 

 what is mind ? what is reason ? what is feeling ? what is sensation ? 

 what is knowledge ? what is man and his destiny ? what is revelation 

 in contradistinction to science ? how far can science go without re- 

 quiring the aid of revelation ? is man a free agent ? are all men of 

 the same species ? what are the laws of thought ? in one word, what 

 was true or not true in everything then generally held to be true ? 



We are far from wishing it to be understood that all these ques- 

 tions were immediately suggested or started ; but the book-men (as 

 their sphere of thought became more and more enlarged) by the 

 sharp contradiction of one another, found it necessary to suggest and 

 discuss them all. They did so boldly and conscientiously, in their 

 contestations. They did so, though many among them were, for the 

 ant i- Christian opinions they advanced, condemned as heretics. 



But we are too hasty. We must endeavor to show the different 

 steps of this evolution, and the main instrumentality of the book-men 

 and the theorists in every advance that was made. 



In the course of the reign of Charlemagne, the doctors of philos- 

 ophy composed a calendar, and proposed the months as we have them 

 now. This calendar they formed by means of their studies of such 

 ancient writings of the Greeks and Romans as they had been able 

 to procure. 



They prevailed upon Charlemagne to establish this calendar by 

 law. By doing this, Charlemagne got all the credit of the work itself; 

 but to a certainty he was incapable of performing it. Individually, he 

 was an ignorant man; but he thirsted for knowledge, glory, and power; 

 had heard from the scholars of the ancient grandeur, monuments, and 

 literature of Rome and Greece; and his ambition impelled him to 

 carry into effect any suggestion of measures likely to contribute to 

 his glory. He was devout, and sought also the glory of God. 



