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philosophers had drawn from their doctrine. He was raised to the see of Paris, 

 which he occupied until his death (1249); and his episcopacy, which did 

 honour to the Church, also rendered good service to the cause of sound 

 philosophy. 



Another doctor of that time, Jean de la Rochelle, who acknowledged 

 Avicenna as his master, wrote a "Treatise on the Soul," which ranks as one 

 of the principal monuments of philosophy in the thirteenth century. 



The appeal-nice of a man not less remarkable for his genius than for his 

 learning, and who renewed and extended the course of teaching by intro- 

 ducing into it the experimental study of nature, was Albertus Magnus, whose 

 reputation spread through France, Germany, and Italy. Born at Lauingen, 

 in Swaliia, in 1 l!Ki, and belonging to an old family in that country, he com- 

 menced his studies at Padua ; and from thence he proceeded to the schools of 

 Bologna and Paris, in order to perfect himself in all the sciences by attending 

 the lectures of the best masters. 'At the age of twenty-nine he joined the 

 Order of St. Dominic, and was immediately commissioned by his superiors to 

 go and teach philosophy in the. Dominican house at Cologne. He returned 

 to Paris in 1228, and was received Doctor. There he opened, at the 

 Monastery of the Preaching Brothers in the Rue St. Jacques, a public course 

 of lectures, which inaugurated the success of the Dominican school. " From 

 all parts," says M. Haureau, " people flocked to his lectures, and the students 

 would not listen to anybody but this insignificant-looking man, worn to a 

 skeleton by study, but for whom, as it seemed, neither heaven nor earth had 

 any secrets ; whose learning was, compared with that of others, like the light 

 of the sun to the flickering fires of a burnt-out lamp ; and whose eloquence 

 ravished all who heard him, communicating to them the divine passion for 

 knowledge." Appointed Provincial of the Dominicans in Germany, Albert 

 was compelled to abandon his teaching in order to visit the monasteries of 

 his order, travelling on foot, and subsisting on alms. He had the good 

 fortune to discover in the libraries of these monasteries several ancient works 

 which he had thought lost : he had them copied out under his own eyes, and 

 thus saved many precious relics of Latin antiquity. He was summoned to 

 Rome by Pope Alexander IV., who conferred upon him the freedom of the 

 sacred palace, and soon afterwards raised him to the episcopacy. But 

 Albert, after holding the bishopric of Ratisbon for three years, resigned his 

 charge in order to resume his favourite studies, and returned to the monastery 



