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it to be unscientific, and asserting that the earth was 

 globular, with a circumference of about 24,000 miles, 

 which was not far wrong. In 66 1 the Khalif Moawyah 

 encouraged this new teaching, and ordered the writings of 

 the Greek philosophers to be translated into Arabic. In 

 753 the Khalif Almansar recommended the study of 

 astronomy, medicine, and law at Bagdad; and his 

 grandson, Haroum-al-Raschid, ordered that every mosque 

 should have a school attached to it, and established a 

 large library at Bagdad for the use of learned men. The 

 sciences of chemistry and geometry were revived, and 

 algebra invented by the Saracens. At Cairo the Fatimist 

 Library became the wonder of the world ; and the great 

 library of the Spanish Khalifs had 600,000 vols., its cata- 

 logue alone occupying 44 vols. Gibbon tells us that 

 they " diffused the taste and the rewards of science from 

 Samarcand and Bokhara to Fez and Cordova, and that 

 the vizier of a sultan consecrated a sum of two hundred 

 thousand pieces of gold to the foundation of a college 

 at Bagdad, which he endowed with an annual revenue of 

 fifteen thousand dinars." The first medical college in 

 Europe was founded by the Saracens at Salerno in Italy, 

 and the first astronomical observatory was erected by 

 them at Seville in Spain. The streets in Spain were 

 lighted, baths were erected, and total abstinence univer- 

 sally practised. Thus we see that, while the power of 

 the Church was gradually steeping central Europe in 

 darkness, ignorance, and wretchedness, progress was on 

 the march again in Western Asia, Africa, and Spain. 

 During this period, however, there were not wanting in 

 Europe bold men who attempted a revival of philosophy ; 

 but these were quickly suppressed by the Church. In 

 A.D. 800 there appeared a man in Britain called John 

 Erigena, who, having read Aristotle's works, adopted his 

 views and attempted to reconcile them with the Christian 

 religion. There were also many Christian divines who 

 had crossed the Mediterranean to study philosophy 

 secretly from Mohammedan doctors. Erigena declared 

 that every living thing evolved from something that had 

 previously lived ; that each particular life-form was but 

 a part of general existence or mundane soul ; and that 

 all life must be eventually re-absorbed in deity. The 



