LITERATURE OF THE ARABS. 67 



respecting the course of study and internal govern- 

 ment of the Arabian schools. Every institution for 

 the education of youth, strictly speaking, was con- 

 nected with 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, v/riting, 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 independ- 

 ent institutions. Here were taught the higher 

 branches of grammar, logic, theology, and juris- 

 prudence. Many of these colleges v/ere 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 ; — with 

 respect to medical students the fact is certain. In 

 Egypt and Spain this class were subjected to a very 

 strict investigation as to their proficiency. 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 



