ARISTOTLE 



self. In other departments of study, however, 

 during the 17th century, the authority of Aristotle 

 and the scholastic doctrine with which he was 

 identified were being combated in the name of 

 " freedom," and so it came about that the zoological 

 works too, which had been brought to light by the 

 " dark " ages, were allowed to pass back into oblivion 

 by the age of enlightenment. It was not until the 

 end of the 18th century that they were rediscovered 

 for the second time by Cuvier (1769-1832) and mem- 

 bers of the Saint-Hilaire family. 



Early Translators 



Early Lack of space forbids reprinting here the account 

 translators, ^hich I gave in the Introduction to P. A. of the 

 fascinating history of the early translators of Aris- 

 totle's zoological works, and I must be allowed to 

 • refer the reader to that volume (pp. 39 ff.) for details 



and other references. A mere list of the four most 

 important translations must here suffice : 



(1) The physician Ibn al-Batriq translated the 

 H.A., P. A. and G.A. into Arabic at Bagdad 

 during the time of the Caliphate of al-Mamun 

 (813-833), son of Harun al-Rashid. There is 

 a MS. of an Arabic translation, probably Ibn 

 al-Batriq's, in the British Museum " ; and there 



" B.M. Add. 7511, 13th-14th century ( = Steinschneider 

 B.M. 437). I have seen this ms. Judging from the passages 

 which Dr. R. Levy kindly read for me in this ms., Scot's 

 Latin version is a close translation from the Arabic. This is 

 confirmed by the fact that the contents-preface which is found 

 prefixed to Scot's translation corresponds exactly with the pre- 

 face which precedes the Arabic version in this ms. (see B.M. 

 Catalogus codicum tnanuscriptorum orientalium, p. 215). 



