HISTORY OF SCIENCE. 



had now at Alexandria fallen upon evil days, for the population of this 

 once famous seat of science was now kept in continual turmoil by the 



bitter disputes and deadly animosities of 

 three parties the Christians, the Jews, 

 and the Pagans. Under the unscrupu- 

 lous fanatic Cyril, the former obtained the 

 ascendency, and of course Hypatia and 

 Greek philosophy could no longer be 

 tolerated. At the instigation of Cyril, a 

 mob of raging yelling bigots assailed Hy- 

 patia as she was one day returning from 

 her lecture-hall, and with circumstances 

 of the greatest barbarity dragged her into 

 a church, where she was killed by the 

 ready club of a zealot known as " Peter 

 the Reader." The murder of Hypatia 

 may be taken as marking the almost com- 

 plete extinction of the Greek science and 

 philosophy at Alexandria. Such was the 

 FIG. 18. HYPATIA. - close of the famous school which had for 

 so many centuries held uninterrupted and 



nearly exclusive possession of whatever was in the world intellectually 

 best, and had been constantly furthering the highest interests and 

 truest progress of humanity. 



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