HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF ZOOLOGY 441 



of Spain, with the exception of a few mountainous districts 

 in the north. During the period of their greatest power the 

 Arabians alone, of all the races of Europe, kept alive the 

 spirit of science. They preserved many classical works from 

 destruction, especially those of medicine, by translating them 

 into Arabic. The power of the Arabians came to an end in 

 Europe in 1491, when Granada, their last stronghold, was 

 torn from their grasp by Ferdinand and Isabella. 



During the closing centuries of the Middle Ages many 

 events prepared the way for the new interest in science 

 characteristic of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 

 The many political adjustments of the period molded the 

 nations of Europe into much the same form as we know them 

 to-day. The application of the mariner's compass to naviga- 

 tion made voyages to new lands possible. America was dis- 

 covered by Columbus ; Magellan's ship sailed round the 

 world. As a result of the general intellectual awakening 

 the bonds of authority were weakened and men began to 

 think for themselves. Printing was invented, and then fol- 

 lowed a wide dispersion of the knowledge of the ancients. 

 Universities were founded, to which flocked students from 

 all over Europe, eager to drink in the new learning. 



Zoology of the Sixteenth Century. With the sixteenth 

 century we are fairly adrift on the stream of modern science. 

 One of the earliest investigators was Andreas Vesalius, born 

 in 1514 at Brussels. He became interested in anatomy while 

 only a boy and studied the human body from dissections, 

 though often experiencing considerable difficulty in getting 

 material. In 1540 he became professor of anatomy in the 

 University of Padua, in northern Italy, and two years later, 

 when twenty-eight years of age, he published his Great Anat- 

 omy, illustrated with woodcuts by the best Italian artists of 

 his time. Having had the advantage of making dissections, 

 he was able to point out errors in the work of Galen, who 



