Relative History of Asia and Europe, 5 



liberal pursuits and other refinements of the oriental nations, had 

 hitherto but tardily succeeded the diffusion of Christianity ; but 

 the professors of literature and of philosophy, who were driven 

 from their homes and native clime by the success of the Mussel- 

 man power, distributed throughout the nations of Europe, in 

 return for the hospitable reception they experienced, the intel- 

 lectual wealth of which they were possessed. The wars for the 

 recovery of the Holy Land from the Mohammedans, were com- 

 menced and carried on during the decline of the Eastern Empire : 

 they were continued, with varying effect, until the end of the 

 thirteenth century, when Palestine was finally abandoned to the 

 dominion of Islamism. The Crusaders, though they failed in per- 

 manently effecting the professed object of their warfare, were yet 

 the means of introducing into their own countries, many of the 

 arts and usages of the East : among the former was that peculiar 

 species of Architecture, so generally adopted in. Europe, from 

 about the period of the second crusade, in the twelfth century, 

 down to the era of the Reformation, which, from the figure of its 

 arches and ornaments, is most accurately designated the " Pointed 

 Style." The practice of Heraldry, also, or the appropriation of 

 symbolic distinctions to ranks and families, so important in the 

 Feudal and Chivalric ages, although the claims to a direct oriental 

 origin, which have been asserted for it by some writers, do not 

 appear to have been substantiated, was certainly much improved 

 and extended during the latter Crusades. Great improvements 

 in the decorative arts were at the same time transferred from the 

 East ; and some useful additions appear also to have been made to 

 the scanty assemblage of facts and precepts, which then consti- 

 tuted the sciences of Medicine and Pharmacy. 



The chief points of relation between Europe and Asia, until 

 the direct transfer of benefits from the latter had ceased, being of 

 a religious and civil nature, the comprehensive notices of them 

 which have been given, may perhaps appear misplaced in a sci- 

 entific journal. But the extent to which Sir Stamford Raffles 

 carried the views of investigation he entertained regarding the 

 history of the East, rendered it desirable to commence this 

 memoir of his labours with a sketch of the relative history of tl)e 



