THE DECLINE OF ANCIENT LEARNING 59 



the elixir of life and the philosopher's stone, the Arabs built 

 up a fairly solid body of scientific knowledge upon the 

 foundation acquired from the ancient world. Arab science 

 must, therefore, be regarded as the most important bond of 

 continuity between the science of antiquity and that of 

 modern times. In this account of the services of an alien 

 race to the development of European science, may also be 

 mentioned the services of the Jews, who were the chief inter- 

 preters to Europe of the Arab learning. They seem to have 

 been second only to the Moors of Spain in their cultivation of 

 natural science. But this may have been due merely to the 

 fact that the Arab learning was more accessible to the Jews 

 because of their commercial activities. 20 



The Arabs, with their dawning appreciation of science, 

 might have won to power throughout Europe, had not inter- 

 nal dissensions produced a division of their Empire and had 

 not the accession to power of barbarian Turks and Berbers 

 in the East interposed a final check upon their scientific 

 progress. The influence of Arab culture upon the intel- 

 lectual life of Christendom was more lasting than its in- 

 fluence upon the life of Islam. Contact with Arab civiliza- 

 tion, through the Crusades, through the commerce of the 

 Mediterranean, and more directly in Spain and at Con- 

 stantinople, aroused in Europe a zeal for the science and 

 literature of antiquity. Arab science was, therefore, one of 

 the most important cultural influences during the later 

 Middle Ages. 



THE APPROACH TO MODERN SCIENCE 



It is a mistake to suppose that the Renaissance, which 

 is now recognized as the period at which modern science 



20 The history of the Arab and the Jew in relation to the origins of modern 

 scientific ideas seems never to have been adequately studied by the historian. 

 Enough is known of the facts to indicate the importance of the contributions 

 thus made, but further historical investigation would doubtless yield many 

 interesting details. 



