70 SCIENCE AND THE HUMAN MIND 



in the decadent universalist Imperialism ; and those 

 nations had to advance far in the reconstruction of 

 social order and the determination and specialization of 

 intellectual attributes before they could throw off 

 the spell of patristic and Semitic theology, and form 

 a suitable seed-bed for the germination and growth of 

 a new science and scientific philosophy. 



Here and there, in the gloom of the Dark Ages, we 

 see tiny plants of knowledge struggling to the light. It 

 is probable that in Italy some of the secular schools 

 maintained their continuity in the large towns through- 

 out the times of turmoil and confusion. But the rise 

 of the monasteries gave the first chance of a secure 

 and leisured life, and, consequently, it is in the cloister 

 that the first signs of the new growth of learning 

 are seen. 



In view of the character of the Gospel story, it was 

 impossible for the Fathers of the Church to despise the 

 art of healing as they despised or ignored more 

 speculative secular knowledge. Hence tending the 

 sick remained a Christian duty, and medicine was the 

 earliest science to revive. Monastic medicine was 

 at first a mixture of magic with a faint tincture of 

 ancient science. In the sixth century the Benedic- 

 tines began the study of compendiums on the works 

 of Hippocrates and Galen, and gradually spread a 

 knowledge of these writings throughout the West. 



In the seventh century the first new secular home 

 for learning appears in the schools of Salerno, whence 

 proceeded many compilations founded on Hippo- 

 crates and Galen. In the ninth century Salernian 

 physicians were already famous, and the schools 

 flourished till overshadowed by the rise of Arab 



