14 Mr. Charles L. Barnes on 



was the murder of Hypatia in 414, had been continued for 

 two centuries in Persia, thence it was carried by the Arab 

 conquerors into Spain, and flourished abundantly from the 

 9th century onwards at Granada, Cordova, Toledo, Seville, 

 and elsewhere ; but owing to the lack of travellers suffi- 

 ciently versed in Arabic, and at the same time capable of 

 assimilating the new ideas, their diffusion into England 

 took place very slowly. The philosopher's stone, and 

 potable gold, the elixir of life, were undreamt of till the 

 Arabian influence was felt, and chemistry and medicine 

 were in a state of which the less said the better. 



Of those who endeavoured to keep alight the flame of 

 science in this country were, in the first place, Bede, the 

 monk of Jarrow (672-735), styled in after times the 

 Venerable, the Father of English learning, whose work, 

 De Natura Rerum, served as a foundation for other writers 

 for a long period, though it only represents a very small 

 part of his literary labours. It is chiefly a cosmography 

 and cosmogony, the same which had prevailed in Europe 

 for many centuries. The earth was the centre of the 

 universe, and the firmament a sphere, bounded by fire; 

 beyond this was heaven, the abode of angelic natures, 

 capable of human and superhuman functions. The planets 

 were seven in number, and revolved within the firmament ; 

 comets were stars suddenly developed, which portended 

 pestilence, revolution, war, or tempest; lightning was 

 produced by the collision of clouds, just as fire is produced 

 by striking two flints. This idea is to be found in 

 Lucretius, 1st century B.C., in Book VI. De Rerum 

 Natura: "It lightens then, when the clouds have struck 

 out by their collision many seeds of fire, just as if a stone 

 were to strike another stone or a piece of iron, for then, 

 too, light bursts out and fire scatters about bright sparks." 

 Probably the same notion had been current for untold 

 ages before this. 



