236 THE GREEK ASTRONOMY. 



only be considered as the prelude to modern 

 discoveries on the same subject. And before we 

 can with propriety pass on to these, there is a 

 long and remarkable, though unproductive inter- 

 val, of which some account must be given. 



Sect. 8. Arabian Astronomy. 



THE interval to which I have just alluded may be 

 considered as extending from Ptolemy to Coper- 

 nicus; we have no advance in Greek astronomy 

 after the former; no signs of a revival of the 

 power of discovery till the latter. During this 

 interval of 1350 years 35 , the principal cultivators 

 of astronomy were the Arabians, who adopted this 

 science from the Greeks whom they conquered, 

 and from whom the conquerors of western Europe 

 again received back their treasure, when the love 

 of science and the capacity for it had been 

 awakened in their minds. In the intervening time, 

 the precious deposit had undergone little change. 

 The Arab astronomer had been the scrupulous 

 but unprofitable servant, who kept his talent 

 without apparent danger of loss, but also without 

 prospect of increase. There is little in Arabic 

 literature which bears upon the progress of astro- 

 nomy; but as the little that there' is must be 

 considered as a sequel to the Greek science, I shall 



35 Ptolemy died about A. D. 150. Copernicus was living A. D. 

 1500 



