58 HISTORY OF SCIENCE. 



ready to take alarm at this dissemination of the knowledge of science. 

 It is recorded that a doctor of divinity of the period took upon him- 

 self to denounce such studies, asserting that the khalif would assuredly 

 draw down upon himself the vengeance of Heaven for daring to per- 

 mit the diffusion among the Faithful of philosophies and sciences 

 which might unsettle their beliefs. This khalif it was who caused the 

 great work of Ptolemy Claudius to be translated into Arabic (A.D. 827) 

 under the title of the "Almagest," a word compounded of the Arabic 

 article al and the first syllables of the Greek title of Ptolemy's treatise, 



We may turn with more immediate interest to the acquirements of 

 the Arabian conquerors of Spain, because from them we trace our 

 scientific descent in the direct line. The Spanish Moors had no 

 sooner become settled in their new possessions than they also turned 

 their attention to intellectual pursuits, and they became the main 

 channel through which the influence of Greek learning again flowed 

 into Europe. It was only in the Moorish universities in Spain that 

 Gerbert, who afterwards in the tenth century became Pope under the 

 title of Sylvester II., could obtain a knowledge of geometry and astro- 

 nomy, and could be made acquainted with the Arabic numerals, the 

 use of which he introduced to the rest of Europe. It was in Moorish 

 Spain, too, that the earliest astronomical observatory in Europe was 

 erected. It is the tower of the Girada or Giraldo of Seville of which 

 we here speak. It still exists, converted into a campanile or bell- 

 tower, a change of its use which occurred when the Moorish power 

 in Spain had been overthrown. 



Astronomy was indeed a science which had a peculiar fascination 

 for the Arabians, by whom it was diligently cultivated. Perhaps their 

 predilection for astronomy may be accounted for by its connection 

 with a pretended science that was more generally and more eagerly 

 pursued, and exercised no little power through its adepts, both before 

 and since the Arabian period. We allude, of course, to astrology, 

 which professes, by observations of the positions of sun, moon, and 

 planets at a particular moment, to foretell the destiny of an individual 

 or of a state. The belief in the influence of the heavenly bodies on 

 man's fate appears to have existed from the earliest times, especially 

 in the East, whence its professors appear to have first passed into 

 Europe. We read, for example, in Judges v. 20, that "the stars in 

 their courses fought against Sisera;" and Horace warns Leuconoe 

 against seeking to penetrate the future by means of the Babylonian 

 tablets (or almanacs of planetary position). The calculations of the 

 astrologer were founded upon the notion that the position of the 

 planets with regard to that sign of the zodiac which was rising at the 

 moment of a person's birth determined, or at least announced, his fate. 

 This configuration of the position of the planets is termed the person's 

 horoscope, and it is obvious that to draw a horoscope correctly implies a 



