LITERATURE OF TIIR ARABS. 67 



respecting' the course of study and internal govern- 

 ment of the Arabian scliools. Every institution for 

 the education of youth, strictly speaking, was con- 

 nected witli religion ; lience public establishments 

 for this purpose were always found in conjunction 

 with the mosques. Of these foundations there were 

 two classes ; — one was composed of inferior schools, 

 where children, chiefly of the lower orders, were 

 instructed in the elements of reading, writing, and 

 religion. From the Arabic alphabet they gradually 

 advanced to the Koran, for the correct pronunciation 

 of which, rules were carefully prescribed. A second 

 description of colleges called the Madras, though 

 sometimes connected with the mosques like the 

 preceding, were occasionally erected as hidepend- 

 ent institutions. Here were taught the higher 

 branches of grammar, logic, theology, and juris- 

 prudence. Many of these colleges were so consti- 

 tuted as to contain thirty apartments, each of which 

 was occupied by three or four students. The 

 government of every school and academy was con- 

 fided to a rector, chosen from the most eminent of 

 the learned, and often without regard to his religious 

 opinions. That academical examinations took place 

 among all the pupils seems highly probable ; — Ayith 

 respect to medical students the fact is certain. In 

 Egypt and Spain this class were subjected to a very 

 strict investigation as to their proficiencj^ Casiri 

 has noticed a treatise by a professor of Cordova, 

 containing seventy-seven questions to be proposed 

 to medical candidates, and when the Achimbasi or 

 chief physician was satisfied of their qualifications, 

 they received a testimonial or diploma, under his 

 hand, authorizing them to practise. The different 

 professors were furnished with text-books, on which 

 they lectured, authorized by the colleges, and ac- 

 counted classical by the Arabs. 



Whatever might be the real progress of the Sara- 

 cens in the speculative or the useful sciences, their 



