" 



12 HISTORY OF GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY. 



into Arabic; and the Caliphs, Al Mansur, Harun-al-Raschid, 

 and Al Mamun, endeavoured to attract to their courts the best 

 scholars of all countries. Thus they handed down to posterity 

 many of the most valued treasures of ancient learning, and 

 they appreciably contributed to the knowledge of mathematics, 

 astronomy, alchemy, medicine, and zoology. Geology and 

 palaeontology, however, the kindred studies of the rocks and 

 their fossil contents, were almost neglected by them. 



It was not until the close of the Middle Ages, in the fifteenth 

 century, that a revival of learning spread through Europe. The 

 discovery of the art of printing brought books within the reach 

 of many. The keen interest in classical authors displayed 

 by the leaders of the Humanist movement infused new life 

 and activity into mental effort in every branch of knowledge. 

 Universities, learned societies, and academies were founded. 1 

 The methods of dogmatism were cast aside with the decay of 

 scholasticism. Copernicus the Prussian (1473-1543) absorbed 

 the best learning that Italy could give him, and rewarded the 

 care of his foster-country by unfolding to futurity the system 

 of the universe that bears his name. The Reformation gave 

 an impulse to all men to think for themselves, and no longer 

 to accept blindly the traditions of past ages. Columbus, 

 Vasco da Gama, and other bold navigators added the Western 

 Hemisphere to the former domain of geographical knowledge. 

 And if less imposing, still no less certain, was the steady 

 advance made in natural science under the influence of the 

 healthier tone that prevailed. Men turned in earnest from 



1 Italy led the way in founding academies during the era of the Renais- 

 sance of literature and research. The "Platonic Academy" was the name 

 given to a group of learned men who were under the patronage of Cosmo 

 di Medici, in Florence; but this society had no definite organisation. The 

 Academy in Padua, founded in 1520, must therefore be regarded as the 

 oldest scientific society, although it was not long in existence. In 1560 

 an Academy of Natural Science was founded at Naples, and in 1590 the 

 Academy dei Lincei in Rome was founded by the Marcese de Monticelli. 

 It was not until the middle of the seventeenth century that the scientific 

 academies of France, England, and Germany came into existence; then 

 were established the Academic Fran9aise in 1633, the Royal Society of 

 London in 1645 (established in 1662 with incorporated rights), the 

 Academic des Sciences in Paris in 1666, and the Akademie der Wissen- 

 schaften in Berlin in 1700. In 1725, Empress Catherine founded the 

 Academy in St. Petersburg, and in the same year the Royal Society of 

 Sciences was formed in Upsala. Since that time scientific societies have 

 been founded in most of the large university towns. 



