CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 



PAGE 



State of Scotland in the twelfth century — Necessity of foreign 

 travel to scholars bred there — Michael Scot : his Nation 

 and Birthplace. — The account given by Boece, how far it is 

 to be believed — The date of Scot's birth and nature of his 

 first studies — Scot at Paris : his growing fame, and the 

 degrees he won in that school — Probability that further 

 study at Bologna formed the introduction to his life in the 

 south, 1 



i CHAPTER II 



The position held by Scot at the Court of Sicily — His service 

 under the Clerk Register, who seems to have been the same 

 as Philip of Tripoli — Scot appointed tutor to Frederick ii. 

 — Advantages of such a position — He teaches the Prince 

 mathematics and acts as Court Astrologer — Publication of 

 the Astronomia and lAber Introductorius — Frederick's 

 marriage — Scot produces the Physionomia and presents it 

 on this occasion — Account of this the most popular of his 

 books, and of the sources from which it was derived — Scot 

 quits Sicily for Spain, 18 



CHAPTER III 



An important moment — The history of the Arabs in their in- 

 fluence on the intellectual life of Europe — The school of Toledo 

 — Scot fixes his residence in that city — The name and fame 

 of Aristotle — Scot engages in translating Arabic versions of 

 the works of Aristotle on Natural History — The De Ani- 

 malibus and its connection with the Physionomia — The 

 Abbreviatio Avicennae and its relation to former versions of 



