II 



MEDIEVAL SCIENCE AMONG THE ARABIANS 



-THE successors of Mohammed showed themselves 

 1 curiously receptive of the ideas of the western 

 people whom they conquered. They came in contact 

 with the Greeks in western Asia and in Egypt, and, 

 as has been said, became their virtual successors i 

 carrving forward the torch of learning. It must not 

 be inferred, however, that the Arabian scholars, as a 

 class, were comparable to their predecessors in creative 

 genius On the contrary, they retained much of 

 conservative oriental spirit. They were under 

 spell of tradition, and, in the main, what they accepted 

 from the Greeks they regarded as almost final in its 

 teaching. There were, however, a few notable, 

 ceptions among their men of science, and to these must 

 be ascribed several discoveries of some importance. 



The chief subjects that excited the interest an 

 exercised the ingenuity of the Arabian scholars were 

 astronomy, mathematics, and medicine. The pract 

 al phases of all these subjects were given particu- 

 lar attention. Thus it is well known that our so- 

 called Arabian numerals date from this period 

 revolutionary effect of these characters, as applied to 

 practical mathematics, can hardly be overestimate 

 but it is generally considered, and in fact was admit- 

 ted by the Arabs themselves, that these numerals 



