MEDICINE VERSUS ART 1\ 



de Compostela) , and of the dispersion of Romanesque and Gothic 

 architecture. 



Much as they are needed for the following up of Western tradi- 

 tions, they are needed considerably more for the understanding of 

 Eastern ones. Indeed, Western traditions are supported by literary 

 witnesses in Greek, Latin or vernaculars which offer no special 

 difficulties; while the Eastern literatures are generally closed to all 

 but a few Orientalists, and the latter's knowledge is almost always 

 restricted to a single group of languages. Now consider this case. 

 In the beginning of the fourteenth century, a most remarkable cul- 

 ture was developed in Tabriz under the patronage of the Mongol 

 rulers of Persia. The spiritual leader was Rashid al-din, physician, 

 theologian and one of the outstanding historians of the Middle 

 Ages. He wrote chiefly in Persian, but had a deep knowledge of 

 Arabic and was acquainted (directly or through secretaries) with 

 documents written in Hebrew, Uighur, Mongolian and Chinese. 

 A scientific edition of his works requires a good knowledge of all 

 of those languages. This you will admit is a big order. Happily, the 

 cosmopolitanism of that age and place can be perceived almost 

 immediately by any person sensitive to artistic values and know- 

 ing sufficiently the peculiarities of Asiatic arts. Indeed, under the 

 patronage of the same Rashid al-din, there blossomed in Tabriz a 

 school of miniaturists whose works reveal immediately the same 

 Chinese influences which can only be detected in the text by that 

 vara avis, an Orientalist as familiar with Chinese as with Persian 

 and Arabic. Indeed Chinese traits are just as obvious in those 

 fourteenth-century miniatures, as they were to become four cen- 

 turies later in the ubiquitous "chinoiseries" which delighted our 

 rococo ancestors. 



VI 



The view that we need art for the understanding of science and 

 vice versa is by no means a new one, but it is so often forgotten or 

 obscured by good scientists and by good historians that it is neces- 



