PREFACE. Xlll 



Galen, of Euclid and others, become known 

 to us only by Arabic versions in which 

 they really exist, should we not probably 

 suspect them to be forgeries, and exclaim 

 against the possibility of the Greeks having 

 had so cultivated a literature four centuries 

 before Christ, when our own forefathers were 

 in a state of dense darkness, in which they 

 continued comparatively for some fifteen 

 centuries afterwards, though their connec- 

 tion with classical antiquity was by no 

 means dissolved ?" As this might well have 

 happened in regard to Greek literature, 

 he asks us not to look upon as forgeries 

 authentic documents, brought to light by 

 similar agency, respecting a pre-existing 

 ante- Grecian culture. 



In M. Ernest Eenan, Professor Chwolson 

 has met an opponent at all points his equal 

 in rank and in erudition. The Oriental 



