878 PROPOSED APPLICATIONS OF SMITHSON'S BEQUEST. 



ment, but these acknowledge no conquest except that of 

 extermination. 



From nations more advanced than themselves the Greeks 

 freely confessed that they drew many of their stores of learn- 

 ing. Even without the advantage of that confession, we 

 ehould hardly rank them on a level with many Oriental 

 people. Their distinguishing characteristic was a correct- 

 ness of taste. In scientific acquirements they were greatly 

 beneath the Hindoos. It is true they possessed the Elements 

 of Euclid, and gave birth to the Conies of Apollonius; but 

 the Binomial theorem, and many of its ftir-reaching conse- 

 quences, were known to the Brahmins. The glory — and it 

 is not a small one — of having chiselled the most beautiful 

 statues, is theirs; but the mountains of Persia were rivals 

 of Parnassus, for the great Epic of Firdausi is said not to 

 shrink from a comparison with the Iliad of Homer. In the 

 softer and gayer elfusions of the muse, even later degenerate 

 Persia may give rivals to Anacreon; her own Hafiz shall 

 vindicate her — 



" Bo}' 1 bid the ruby liquid flow, 

 Nor let they pensive heart be sad, 

 Whate'er the frowning zealots say. 

 Tell them — their Eden cannot show 

 A stream so clear as Rocnabad, 

 A bower so sweet as Mosselay." 



If you ask me what people have contributed more to the 

 advancement of the intellect of the world than the Greeks, 

 I would point you at once to the Saracens. Who was it that 

 dispelled the gloom of the dark ages? — the Saracens. Who 

 was it that introduced into many parts of the world the 

 learning of Greece itself? — the Saracens. Who taught us 

 Algebra, that amazing engine of intellectuality? — the Sara- 

 cens. Who was it that on the sandy plains of Arabia de- 

 termined the magnitude of this earth ? — the Saracens. Who 

 was it that brought experimental chemistry from the East? — 

 the Saracens. Who was it that gave us the very first ele- 

 ments of our commonest knowledge? — who taught us the 

 first princplcs of arithmetic? — the Saracens. The invention 

 of the cypher will hereafter be regarded as one of the most 

 capital results that the wit and genius of man has ever pro- 

 duced. To ascribe to that little emblem so many curious 

 properties — to combine them in so many harmonious ways, 

 and from means apparently so slender — to convert arithmetic 

 from one of the most obscure and most unintelligible to the 

 most perfect of all the sciences — required a mind skilled in 

 original research, and stored with untold hoards of knowl- 



