4o6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



might see in him how much it is possible for man to know." Aver- 

 roes devoted a great portion of his life to literary pursuits, but chiefly 

 to his chosen task of expounding the doctrines of his favorite author. 

 A printed edition of his works, in ten large folio volumes, furnishes 

 ample testimony of the extent of his labors, and fully justifies the 

 cognomen of ** The Commentator," and of Dante's expression " that 

 commentary vast." He was also styled " the soul of Aristotle." 



It has been said that he wrote his medical treatises for the purpose 

 of reconciling the doctrines of Galen with the philosophy of Aristotle ; 

 for it is evident that his estimation of the medical philosopher of Per- 

 gamus was only second in degree to the almost veneration which he 

 entertained for the philosopher of Alexandria. 



It is not within the compass or purpose of this sketch to furnish 

 the reader with even a brief summary of the peculiar characteristics of 

 the metaphysical doctrines which constitute what has been termed 

 Averroism, or to give an account of its wide-spread influence through- 

 out Europe, and particularly during three entire centuries in the 

 universities of Korthern Italy. I will merely state that Padua be- 

 came the seat and center of " Averroist Aristotelianism," and that 

 Petrus de Apono, about the year 1300, became a famous expositor of 

 these doctrines in their relation to medicine, and an equally noted exam- 

 ple of heterodoxy in matters of faith ; so much so that his Q^gj was 

 burned in the public market-place by the executioner, at the command 

 of the Inquisitors. Though for ages both Aristotle and Averroes were 

 regarded as the supreme masters of the science of proof, yet their teach- 

 ings were considered inimical to the requirements of religious faith ; their 

 disciples were called derisively "the people of demonstration." Later 

 on, Erasmus and others poured out the vials of their contempt on 

 scholastic barbarism with its " impious and thrice-accursed Averroes." 



To return to his personal history. Averroes lived not long after 

 Avenzoar, whom he calls " admirable, glorious, the treasure of all 

 knowledge," and the most supreme in physic from Galen to his own 

 time. Averroes was personally acquainted with the sons of Avenzoar. 

 He was a great student. It is said that, under the most approved 

 teachers of his time, he mastered theology, jurisprudence, mathemat- 

 ics, philosophy, and medicine. He flourished at a time when the Mos- 

 lem caliphate in Spain had attained its maximum splendor, and such 

 as had only been excelled by the ancient Oriental glories of Arabia 

 and Persia. Cordova was the Bagdad of the Occident. Averroes 

 worshiped in great and magnificent mosques, attended schools and 

 colleges of erudition and renown, consulted libraries vast in extent, 

 rich and rare in quality ; walked large hospitals, whose cases supplied 

 ample illustrations of all the mortal ills to which our poor humanity is 

 subject ; and, having been introduced by Ibn-Tofail, the philosophic 

 vizier of Jusuf, to that prince, he possessed every requisite qualifica- 

 tion and influence to insure success and distinction in life. Averroes, 



