229 



The whole controversy on the subject is to be found in the works of 

 Canisius, Aventine, and Velser. 



The astronomical learning of this age is yet further established by 

 the accuracy with which eclipses solar and lunar, appearances of co- 

 mets, &c., are computed ;* particularly an eclipse of the sun in 495, 

 one in 664, by which Bede's calculation is corrected ;-f* an eclipse of 

 the moon in 673, the appearance of a comet, in 676, which is observed 

 at the same year by Hermannus Contractus, j; another eclipse of the 

 moon in 717, and one more in 733, which Florentius Wigorniensis 

 refers to 734.§ In 743, the Annals of the Four Masters record 

 strange celestial phoenomena, which Florentius Wigorniensis notices 

 at the same year, (" visas sunt stellae quasi de caslo cadere ;") while 

 similar accounts of strange appearances in the stars, as in 744, is con- 

 firmed by the Chronicon Saxon, ad ann. 744, (" hoc anno stellae 

 item de caslo frequentes deciderunt.") 



Little can be collected as to the medical knowledge of the day, 

 except that commentaries, referrible to this period, upon the apho- 

 risms of Hippocrates, are said to be yet extant, the first letters of each 

 aphorism, large and embellished with colours in the old monkish 

 style. II 



Ware, in his work on the writers of Ireland, gives a gratifying 

 detail of the learned authors of this period ; and it must be obvious 



tini et alionim patram sententiam docuisse, circumfundi terras homines undique, et conversis 

 inter se pedibus stare, unde antipodes Graeci nuncupant voce." — Cited O'Conor, Eer. Hib. 

 Script, vol. 4. p. 173. 



• See Id. vol. 1. Nunc. Epist. p. xc. &c. f Id. p. xiv. 



X "Cometa per tres menses visus."—Bibl. Patrum. vol, 18. p. 367. 



§ " Luna sanguinis rubore perfusa, quasi hora integra 2 cal. Februarii circa gallicantum, 

 dehinc nigredine subsequente ad lucem propriam visa est reversa."— Florent. Wigom. ad 

 ann. 734. 



11 See Anthol. Hibern. vol. 3. pp. 258-9. 



