SCIENCE IN THE DARK AGE 



Similarly, as we shall sec in the Arabic world, where 

 alone there was progress in the mediaeval epoch, the 

 learned men were, for the most part, physicians. Now 

 the meaning of this must be self-evident. The 

 physician naturally "intends" his mind towards the 

 practicalities. His professional studies tend to make 

 him an investigator of the operations of nature. He 

 is usually a sceptic, with a spontaneous interest in 

 practical science. But the theologian "intends" his 

 mind away from practicalities and towards mysticism. 

 He is a professional believer in the supernatural; he 

 discounts the value of merely "natural" phenomena. 

 His whole attitude of mind is unscientific; the funda- 

 mental tenets of his faith are based on alleged oc- 

 currences which inductive science cannot admit 

 namely, miracles. And so the minds "intended" 

 towards the supernatural achieved only the hazy 

 mysticism of mediaeval thought. Instead of in- 

 vestigating natural laws, they paid heed (as, for 

 example, Thomas Aquinas does in his Summa Theo- 

 logia) to the "acts of angels," the " speaking of angels," 

 the "subordination of angels," the "deeds of guardian 

 angels," and the like. They disputed such important 

 questions as, How many angels can stand upon the 

 point of a needle? They argued pro and con as to 

 whether Christ were coeval with God, or whether 

 he had been merely created " in the beginning," 

 perhaps ages before the creation of the world. How 

 could it be expected that science should flourish when 

 the greatest minds of the age could concern them- 

 selves with problems such as these ? 



Despite our preconceptions or prejudices, there can 



VOL. ii. a c- 



