104 LITERATURE OF THE ARABS. 



made in the schools of the Saracens. The early no- 

 menclature of the science demonstrates how much 

 it owes to the Arabs. The terms alcohol, alembic, 

 alkali, aludel, and others, clearly indicate their de- 

 rivation ; nor should it be forgotten that those cha- 

 racters of drugs, essences, extracts, and medicines, 

 which are frequently to be found in apothecaries' 

 shops, and which to vulgar eyes appear to be vested 

 with occult powers of healing, are all to be traced to 

 them. It is the opinion of Sprengel, that the writ- 

 ings of the Arabs, even at the present day, might be 

 of service were our chemists and physicians capable 

 of perusing the works of Geber, Messue, Rhazes, 

 Averroes, and Avicenna, in the native tongue. 



Allied to medicine was the science of astrology, 

 which the Saracens cultivated with great zeal. The 

 doctrine of sideral influences is very ancient , and 

 at a later period each part and member of the hu- 

 man body was assigned to the custody or dominion 

 of a particular star. The heart, brain, liver, spleen, 

 bile, kidneys, and other viscera, were successively 

 affected by the sun and moon ; and by the planets, 

 Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Mars, and Venus ; so that 

 a physician, before he could understand or attempt to 

 cure a disease, had to ascertain the magical harmony 

 between the planets and the habits of his patient. He 

 durst not venture to draw blood without consulting 

 the position of the heavens, nor order a cathartic un- 

 less the constellations were favourable. With a people 

 so superstitious as the Arabs, such a science could 

 not fail to be popular. Accordingly its professors, 

 independently of all medical considerations, were 

 seen in the courts, and consulted in the cabinets of 

 princes ; and no public or even private enterprise 



