ARABIC LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 625 Paris, 1835- '7), "History of the Copts" (Arabic and German by Wustenfeld, Gottin- gen, 1845); Ibn Taghri, annals principally of Egypt (Juynboll and Matthes, Leyden, 1852-'61); a collection of chronicles by vari- ous writers relating to the city of Mecca (Wustenfeld, Leipsic, 185 7-' 9) ; a collection relating to Sicily (Amari, Bibliotheca Arabo- Sicula, Leipsic, 1855-'7) ; Al-Suyuti, " History of the Temple at Jerusalem " (English by Rey- nolds, London, 1836). To the general charac- ter of Arabic historical writing above given, we have a noble exception in Ibn Khaldun (died 1406), a writer of a philosophical spirit and a profound historical sense. Of his history, the introduction has been published by Quatre- mere and translated into French by De Slane (in the Notices et extraits des manuscrits, vol. xvi. et seq.), and another part, the history of the Berbers, edited and translated by De Slane (Algiers, 1847-'56). Among biographies, that of Mohammed by Ibn Ishak (Arabic by Wustenfeld, Gottingen, 1858-'60 ; German by Weil, Stuttgart, 1864) is especially important. For original speculation in philosophy we must look rather to the religious sects than to the philosophers so called, a name reserved for those who borrowed the systems of the Greeks, especially that of Aristotle, in which they in- troduced few changes of importance. The most celebrated names among the eastern Arabs are Alkindi of the 9th, Alfarabius of the 10th, and above all Ibn Sina (Avicenna) of the early part of the llth century. More profound and original was Algazzali (died 1111), who aimed at the overthrow of the existing systems, and from skepticism passed finally to asceticism and mys- ticism. With respect to the idea of cause, he held substantially the position and anticipated the arguments of Hume. In the 12th century Spain became the centre of philosophical ac- tivity, its chief representatives being Ibn Badja (Avempace), Ibn Tophail (Abubacer), and Ibn Roshd (Averroes). The schoolmen first ob- tained the Latin translations of some of the treatises of Aristotle, not directly from the Greek, but from Arabic versions, and Averroes, as the latest of his commentators, was accepted as his authorized interpreter. In the 13th and 14th centuries the authority of his commentary was hardly questioned, and in the 15th and 16th it was many times reprinted. These cir- cumstances give to Arab philosophy a far high- er importance in the history of European cul- ture than its independent value would entitle it to claim. In mathematics the Arabs were the pupils of Greece and India, but they added not a little to the sum of knowledge which they had received. Neither algebra nor the Arabic numerals were, as the names would seem to indicate, of Arab invention; but the Arabs perfected the processes of the one, arriv- ing at the solution of cubic equations, and they facilitated the introduction of the other. They simplified trigonometrical calculations by substi- tuting the use of sines and tangents for chords. 41 VOL. i. 41 In astronomy they improved the instruments of observation (Abulhassan, "Treatise on Astro- nomical Instruments," French by S6dillot, Paris, 1834-'5), and constructed new and more accu- rate tables (Ibn Tunis, Arabic and French by Caussin, Paris, 1804; Olug-Beg, Arabic and French by Sedillot, Paris, 1847-'63). They made some discoveries of .importance, among which is perhaps to be reckoned that of the variation of the moon by Abul-Wefa, commonly ascribed to Tycho Brahe, six centuries later. The science of medicine owes much to the Arabs, especially in the departments of pharmacy and materia medica. In surgery, from ignorance of anatomy, they made little advance. The most celebrated among the medical as well as among the philosophical writers is Avicenna, whose " Canon of Medicine " was for four centuries the leading text book in European schools (printed at Rome, 1593, and in Latin versions not far from 30 times). The Elham or Continens of Al-Razi (Rhazes) enjoyed also a wide reputation, and hi the Latin translation passed through many editions. The study of medicine led naturally to that of chemistry and botany. Chemistry made substantial progress among the Arabs. To Geber we owe the first preparation of sulphuric and nitric acids and aqua regia. The distillation of alcohol also, as the name implies, was a discovery of the Arabs. Botany was little more than the handmaid of medicine. There was no attempt at scientific classification, but only an alphabetic arrange- ment of the material, as among the Greek bo- tanical writers. But in the number of plants described, the style of description, and the de- termination of synonymes, the advantage is largely on the side of the Arabs. The best known writers are Al-Nabati and Ibn Baitar (German by Sontheimer, Stuttgart, 1840-'42). In geography the Arabs have rendered most important services, less in the mathematical than in the descriptive branch of the science. The vast extent of the empire of the caliphs, and the reports gathered from the governors of remote provinces, the commercial inter- course reaching even beyond the limits of the empire (witness the Arabic coins frequently dug up in northern Russia and even in Nor- way, which prove the existence of an estab- lished trade, if they do not necessarily suppose the presence of Arab merchants), the pilgrim- age to Mecca, which it was the duty of every Moslem who had the ability to make once at least in the course of his life all this could not but add materially to the sum of geograph- ical knowledge. The narrative of an Arab mer- chant named Soleyman, who visited China in the 9th century, was published in Arabic and French by Reinaud (Relation des voyages dans Vlnde et a la Chine, Paris, 1845). Al-Is- takhri and Ibn Haukal about 950 traversed the different Mohammedan provinces from the Atlantic to India. The Liber Climatum of the former was published by Moller (Gotha, 1839 ; German by Mordtmann, Hamburg, 1845).
