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THE LIFE OF SCIENCE 



numberless personal meetings between scholars hailing from the 

 more distant countries. Under that influence many learned Muslims 

 seemed to be affected with a kind of Wanderlust, for it was not 

 unusual for them to perform the Pilgrimage more than once, 

 making considerable stops in the main cities on their way, re- 

 newing contacts with their colleagues, engaging in long discus- 

 sions, copying manuscripts, or composing their own writings; 

 this one in Andalusia, another in the Maghrib, another in Egypt, 

 and so forth. Thus (and also because of the common language) 

 scientific knowledge obtained in any part of Islam was trans- 

 mitted with astounding celerity to the others, and fresh stimula- 

 tions were constantly exchanged. 



The almost unbelievable vigor of the new culture may be well 

 measured by the international triumph of the Arabic language, a 

 triumph which was the more remarkable because that language 

 was not ready for the occasion but had to be elaborated as the 

 need for it increased, and became more and more technical. The 

 Qur'anic idiom was very beautiful indeed but limited. As the im- 

 mense task of pouring out the Greek treasure into the Arabic 

 vessels proceeded, it was necessary to make new vessels and better 

 ones. Not only that, but a great majority of the people who used 

 them had to begin by learning how from the very rudiments. And 

 yet within a couple of centuries multitudes had acquired some 

 familiarity with that language which had been utterly unknown 

 to their ancestors, if not to their parents. 



The briefest enumeration of the Arabic contributions to knowl- 

 edge would be too long to be inserted here, but I must insist on 

 the fact that, though a major part of the activity of Arabic-writing 

 scholars consisted in the translation of Greek works and their 

 assimilation, they did far more than that. They did not simply 

 transmit ancient knowledge, they created a new one. To be sure, 

 none of them attained the highest peaks of the Greek genius. No 

 Arabic mathematician can begin to compare with Archimedes or 

 Apollonius. Ibn Sina makes one think of Galen, but no Arabic 

 physician had the wisdom of Hippocrates. However, such com- 



