At the time of the incursions of the barbarians3 of the North, when Spain, the South of France, Italy, and North Africa, with their adjacent islands, were ravaged4 by these hordes5, multitudes of those who could escape so far found a refuge in the East; and there is good reason for supposing that by such means a vast store of the accumulated knowledge of civilized6 Europe found its way to Eastern lands. Science in its turn has come back to us through the Saracens, who afterwards invaded Southern Europe.678
It is not correct to speak of the Arabians or the Saracens as the source of the culture which is known as Arabian and Saracenic. The magnificent civilization of the Greek world fell to pieces like a noble but ruined temple, and its precious relics7 went to form a score of other civilizations which ultimately arose from its ruins. It was not the Semitic peoples of Arabia which restored the philosophy and science of the decayed Gr?co-Roman world, it was the Persians, the Greeks of Asia Minor8, the people of Alexandria, and the cultured Eastern nations, generally, which having been subdued9 by the Arabs, at once began to impart to their conquerors10 the culture which they lacked. The ignorant followers11 of the Prophet who burned the Alexandrian Library knew not what they did; the time was to come when Greek culture was to reach them partly from the city whose literary treasures they had destroyed, and partly through Syrian and Persian influences. By these roads came the medical sciences to the Saracens. The second library of Alexandria, consisting of 700,000 volumes, was destroyed by them, a.d. 642; but we must conclude that many medical and other scientific works were preserved, as the Jews and the Nestorians (banished12 from Constantinople to Asia) first made the Arabians acquainted with Greek288 authors by translating them into Syriac, whence they were in turn translated into Arabic. Justinian I. (a.d. 529) banished the Platonists of Athens, when Chosr?es I., surnamed Nushirwan, or “the generous mind,” one of the greatest monarchs13 of Persia, hospitably14 received them at his court. He caused the best Greek, Latin, and Indian works to be translated into Persian, and valued Gr?co-Roman medical science so highly that he offered a suspension of hostilities15 for the single physician Tribunus.
The East in a great measure owed its acquaintance with the rich treasures of Greek literature to the heresy16 of Nestorius. Nestorius was a Syrian by birth, and became bishop17 of Constantinople. Having denied that the Virgin18 Mary ought to be called “Mother of God,” he was summoned to appear before the Council of Ephesus (a.d. 431), and was deposed19. Nestorian communities were formed, and the heretical opinions rapidly spread, patronized as they were for political purposes by the Persian kings. The Mahometan conquests in the seventh century, by overthrowing20 the supremacy21 of orthodoxy, afforded great encouragement to the Nestorians, as by denying that Mary was the mother of God, as the Catholics maintained, the Nestorians in calling her the mother of Christ more nearly approached the Mahometan conception of a pure monotheism. Barsumas, or Barsaumas, bishop of Nisibis (435-485 a.d.), was one of the most eminent22 leaders of the new heresy. He succeeded in gaining many adherents23 in Persia. Maanes, bishop of Ardaschiv, was his principal coadjutor; he was the means of propagating the Nestorian doctrines25 in Egypt, Syria, Arabia, India, Tartary, and even China.
The Caliphs.
In the time of Mohammed himself (569-609), the Arabians had physicians who had been educated in the Greek schools of medicine living amongst them. Pococke mentions a Greek physician named Theodunus, who was in the service of Hajáj Ibn Yúsuf in the seventh century. He wrote a sort of medical compendium26 for the use of his son. Hajáj seems also to have employed another Greek doctor named Theodocus, who had numerous pupils.679
The House of Ommiyah encouraged the cultivation27 of the sciences. The Caliph Moawiyah, who resided at Damascus, founded schools, libraries, and observatories28 there, and invited the learned of all nations, especially Greeks, to settle there, and teach his people their arts and sciences.680
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In the seventh century, Alexandria under the rule of Islam was in possession of many medical schools in which the principles of Galen were taught.681
Alkinani, an Arabian Christian29, who afterwards was converted to Islamism, was chiefly instrumental in introducing medical teaching into Antioch and Harran from Alexandria.682
The Caliph Almansor had studied astronomy. Almamon, the seventh of the Abbassides, collected from Armenia, Syria, and Egypt all the volumes of Grecian science he could obtain; they were translated into Arabic, and his subjects were earnestly exhorted30 to study them. “He was not ignorant,” says Abulpharagius, “that they are the elect of God, His best and most useful servants, whose lives are devoted31 to the improvement of their rational faculties32.” Succeeding princes of the line of Abbas, and their rivals the Fatimites of Africa and the Ommiades of Spain, says Gibbon, were the patrons of the learned, “and their emulation33 diffused34 the taste and the rewards of science from Samarcand and Bochara to Fez and Cordova.”683
It was Almamon who caused the works of the fathers of Indian medical science to be translated first into Persian and then into Arabic; thus it was that the Saracens became familiar with the medical wisdom of Susruta and Charaka in the eighth century of our era.684
Charaka is frequently mentioned in the Latin translations of Avicenna (Ibn Sina), Rhazes (Al Rasi), and Serapion (Ibn Serabi).685
Chaldee works at this time were also translated into Persian. In the first centuries of the Hijra the Caliphs of Baghdad caused a considerable number of works upon Hindu medicine to be translated into Persian.686 At the time of Mohammed there existed a famous school of medicine at Senaa in Southern Arabia, the principal of which, Harit Ben Kaldah, had learned his profession in India.687
When the son of Mesuach, a young Nestorian Christian, first entered Baghdad, it is said688 that he appeared to have discovered a new world. He applied35 himself to the study of medicine, philosophy, and astronomy. He became a “treasure of learning,” and was chosen to attend Prince Almamon, the son of Haroun-al-Raschid, who, when he became Caliph in 813, invited learned men of all religions and of all nations to his court, collected from them the names of all the great authors and the titles of their books which had been published in290 Greek, Syriac, and Persian, and then sent to all parts of the world to purchase them.
The Arabs studied Aristotle; and when Western Europe had long been sunk in intellectual darkness and had forgotten him, the Saracens taught him to the Christians36 of the West. “He was read at Samarcand and at Lisbon,” says Freeman, “when no one knew his name at Oxford37 or Edinburgh.”689 In his own tongue at Constantinople and Thessalonica he had never been forgotten. Such learning and science as the Saracens did not receive from India, such as the Arabic numerals, came to them from the West. They developed and improved much, but they probably invented nothing. Freeman says690 that after careful investigation38 he observed three things: first, that whatever the Arabs learned was from translations of Greek works; secondly39, that they made use of only an infinitesimal portion of Greek literature; thirdly, that many of their most famous literary men were not Mahometans at all, but Jews or Christians.691 Greek poetry, history, and philosophy had little charm for them. Gibbon says there is no record of an Arabian translation of any Greek poet, orator40, or historian.692
Learned Nestorians, Jacobites, and Jews in Persia and Syria occupied themselves with translations from Greek authors, and contributed greatly to the extension of Western culture in Eastern lands.693 To the world at large Mahomet was but an impostor; to the Arab of the seventh century he was a true prophet and the greatest of benefactors41.
When the Persian king reproached the Arabs with their poverty and their savage42 condition, the reply of the Saracen envoy43 contains a grand summary of the immediate44 results of Mahomet’s teaching.694
“Whatever thou hast said,” replied Sheikh Maghareh, “respecting the former condition of the Arabs is true. Their food was green lizards45; they buried their infant daughters alive; nay46, some of them feasted on dead carcases and drank blood; while others slew47 their relations, and thought themselves great and valiant48, when by such an act they became possessed49 of more property; they were clothed with hair garments; knew not good from evil; and made no distinction between that which is lawful50 and that which is unlawful. Such was our state. But God, in His mercy, has sent us by a holy prophet a sacred volume, which teaches us the true faith.”695
George Backtischwah, or Bocht Jesu, was a Greek physician, a descendant of the persecuted51 Christians of the Greek empire, who embracing the heresy of Nestorius had been compelled to fly for safety291 and peace to the Persians. Al-Manzor (754-775) invited Backtischwah to his court, and this physician was the first to present to the Arabians translations of the medical works of the Greeks. The Nestorians had founded a school of medicine in the province of Gondisapor, which was already famous in the seventh century. From this school issued a crowd of learned Nestorians and Jews, famous for their knowledge of medicine and surgery, but still more for their ability to endow the East with all the treasures of Greek literature.696
Baghdad.
The city of Baghdad was built by the Caliph Almansor, in a.d. 763, on the ruins of a very ancient city; it soon became the most splendid city in the East. Almansor had personally cultivated science, and was a lover of letters and of learned men. He offered rewards for translations of Greek authors on philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, and medicine.
A college was established by the Caliph which ultimately became famous. Public hospitals and a medical school were also established by the same enlightened ruler. Meryon says697 that there is reason to suppose that in the laboratories established at Baghdad for the preparation of medicines the science of chemistry may have first originated.698
The son of Mesuach presided over the translations of the works of Galen and all the treatises52 of Aristotle into Arabic; but when they had extracted the science from Greek literature, they consigned54 all the rest of it to the flames, as dangerous to the Moslem55 faith.699
Many Christian physicians were employed at Baghdad.
The vizier of a Sultan gave two hundred thousand pieces of gold to found a college at Baghdad, which he endowed with an annual revenue of fifteen thousand dinars.700 Under the reign56 of Haroun-al-Raschid and his successors this school flourished vigorously, and many translations of Greek medical works were made therein.
The Arabians have greatly distinguished57 themselves in the science of medicine. In the city of Baghdad eight hundred and sixty physicians, says Gibbon, were licensed58 to practise. The names of Mesua and Geber, of Rhazis and Avicenna are not less famous than are those of the greatest names amongst the Greeks themselves. The independent medical literature of the Saracens arose in the ninth century, and gradually developed292 till it reached the zenith of its glory in the eleventh. The mosques59 were then the universities, and besides that of Baghdad, Bassora, Cufa, Samarcand, Ispahan, Damascus, Bokhara, Firuzabad, and Khurdistan, not omitting the schools of the Fatimites in Alexandria, were centres of Eastern science and art, and the equally famous universities of Cordova, Seville, Toledo, Almeria, Murcia, Granada, and Valencia, sustained in Europe the dignity of the Arabian learning. When the conquest of Africa was complete, Spain was invaded, and about the year 713 was reduced to a Moslem province. Cordova became not less distinguished for learning than Baghdad, and many writers were given to the world from the adjacent towns of Malaga, Almeria, and Murcia. Gibbon says that above seventy public libraries were opened in the cities of Andalusia.
In the words of Professor Nicholl, “The Semitic race is essentially60 unscientific, and adverse61 to the presentation of philosophical62 or moral truth in a scientific form. The Indo-European genius, on the contrary, tends irresistibly63 towards intellectual system, or science.” This will at once be perceived when we examine the Vedas, the works of any Greek author, or those of Teutonic speculative64 writers, and then turn to any Semitic books. We instantly perceive that in the latter we have nothing but belief or intuition, with more or less of the doctrine24 of Revelation or Inspiration. In the works of Aryan origin, on the contrary, we are at the opposite pole; we have speculation65, inquiry66, an insatiable desire to solve the mystery of things—the analytical67 spirit which asks a reason for every phenomenon in the universe. In the Semitic races this resolves itself into either a living faith and a pure life corresponding thereto, or into a reckless fanaticism68 founded on fatalism. In the Aryan races we have the most daring intellectual activity, or the driest dogmatism.701
It was in Spain that the Semitic and Aryan intellects met and happily blended. Spain remembered the advantages of Roman influences long after they were withdrawn69. The Goths, who spread themselves over the Peninsula, preserved the remains70 of the civilization which the Romans had left; and the Jews, afterwards to be treated with such cruel and base ingratitude71 by the nation which they had so greatly benefited, advanced the cause of education by their numerous schools and learned writers.702
On this stage, then, we find the Semitic and the Indo-Germanic races transferring to each other the characteristics with which they were most happily endowed by nature.
The mosque schools of the Arabians were conducted on the model of293 the Alexandrian schools. The old Egyptian and Jewish colleges were to some extent the prototypes of these, and some writers think that our own universities were suggested by those of the Saracens. How great and famous some of these must have been, may be learned from the fact that, as we have stated, no less than six thousand professors and students were collected together at Baghdad at one time. There were lecture rooms, laboratories, hospitals, and residences for teachers and students, besides the great halls which must have been required for the vast libraries which the Caliphs collected. It was in Spain perhaps that Saracenic learning shone most brilliantly. In the early part of the eighth century was founded the noble university of Cordova, the city which, under Arabian rule, was called the “Centre of Religion, the Mother of Philosophers, the Light of Andalusia.” It contained 300 mosques, 200,000 houses, and 1,000,000 inhabitants, besides forty hospitals.703
Abou-Ryan-el-Byrouny (died 941) travelled forty years studying mineralogy, and his treatise53 on precious stones, says Sismondi,704 is a rich collection of facts. Aben-al-Be?thar of Malaga travelled over all the mountains and plains of Europe in search of plants, and rendered most important services to botany. He wandered over the sands of Africa and the remotest countries of Asia, examining and collecting animals, fossils, and vegetables, and published his observations in three volumes, which contained more science than any naturalist73 had previously74 recorded.705
In one sense the Arabians were the inventors of chemistry, and never was the science applied to the arts of life more beneficially than by the Saracens in Spain.
Mahomet was skilled in the knowledge of medicine, and certain of his aphorisms75 are extant concerning the healing art. Gibbon says706 that the temperance and exercise his followers preached, deprived the doctors of the greater part of their practice. The only medicine recommended by the Koran is honey (see Surah xvi. 71). “From its (the bee’s) belly76 cometh forth77 a fluid of varying hues78, which yieldeth medicine to man.” There is evidence of a belief in magic in the Koran as a charm against evil, and of incantations capable of producing ill consequences to those against whom they were directed. The 113th chapter of the Koran was written when Mohammed believed that, by the witchcraft79 of wicked persons, he had been afflicted80 with rheumatism81. Mohammedan peoples use as amulets82 to avert83 evil from themselves or possessions, a small Koran encased in silk or leather, or some of the294 names of God, or of the prophets or saints, or the Mohammedan creed84 engraven on stone or silver.
Da’wah, or the system of incantation used by Mohammedans, is employed to cause the cure, or the sickness and death of a person. The Mohammedans have an elaborate system of exorcism, which is fully85 explained by Mr. Thomas Patrick Hughes.707
Uroscopy, or the art of judging diseases by inspection86 of the urine, was a great feature of Arabian as of Greek medical practice. It was, however, with the former usually conducted with jugglery87 and charlatanism88, and there was seldom anything scientific about it.
As the religion of the Moslems forbade dissection89, the sciences of anatomy90 and physiology91 and the art of surgery remained as they were borrowed from the Greek writers.
The Arabian faculty92 always stipulated93 for their fees beforehand; they disapproved94 of gratuitous95 treatment, because, as they declared, “no one gets even thanks for it!”
There must have been female doctors, who, in the East, had abundant opportunities for practice, as men were not permitted by the customs of the times to examine women. These female obstetricians performed the gravest operations, such as embryotomy and lithotomy.708
Hospitals were established at Damascus for lepers, the poor, the blind, and the sick, under the rule of the Caliph Walid.
Paper is an Arabic invention. True, it has been made from silk from the remotest ages in China, but by the Arabs it was first made at Samarcand, a.d. 649; and cotton paper, such as we use now, was made at Mecca, a.d. 706. The art was soon afterwards introduced by the Arabs into Spain, where it was brought to the highest perfection.709 Gunpowder96 was known to the Arabs a hundred years before Europeans mention it.710 The compass was used by them nearly two centuries before the Italians and French used it. The number of Arabic inventions which we unsuspectingly enjoy, without being aware of their origin, is prodigious97. Could we bring to light the literary treasures of the Escurial, we should know something of the industrious98 host of Arabians who have done so much for the learning of the Western world, and whose names and deeds have received from us no recognition. Their historical, geographical99, and scientific dictionaries and histories would alone entitle them to the gratitude72 of an age which would know how to appreciate them.
Sismondi says that295 “Medicine and philosophy had even a greater number of historians than the other sciences; and all these different works were embodied100 in the historical dictionary of sciences compiled by Mohammed-Aba-Abdallah, of Granada.”
The Great Arabian Physicians.
Honain, a Christian physician, flourished at Baghdad in the middle of the ninth century. He travelled in Greece that he might perfect himself in the language, and he read the works of all the great writers of that country. On his return to Baghdad he was invited by the Caliph to undertake the translation of the Greek authors. His best known translation is The Aphorisms of Hippocrates with the Commentaries of Galen. He wrote on midwifery, and was a good oculist101.
Serapion the Elder (of Damascus), who flourished in the ninth century, was a Syrian physician, of whom little or nothing is known except that he wrote two works, one of which is in the Bodleian in MS., entitled Aphorismi magni momenti de Medicina Practica. The other is entitled Kunnásh, and has been translated into Latin.
The classical period of Arabian medicine begins with—
Rhazes, “the Arabic Galen,” whose real name was Abú Becr Mohammed Ibn Zacaríyá Ar-Razi, was born at Rai, near Chorásán, probably about the middle of the ninth century after Christ. His famous work, On the Small Pox and Measles102, was translated from the original Arabic into Syriac, and from that language into Greek. This is the first extant medical treatise in which the small-pox is certainly mentioned.711 This famous book has been published in various languages about thirty-five times; a greater number of editions, says Dr. Greenhill, than almost any other ancient medical treatise has passed through. He was skilled in philosophy, astronomy, and music, as well as in medicine, which he began to study when he was forty years old. He became one of the most celebrated103 physicians of his time, and was appointed physician to the hospital at Rai, and afterwards to that of Baghdad, where he became so famous as a teacher that pupils flocked to him from all parts. He afterwards resided at the court of Cordova. He died at an advanced age about a.d. 932. More than two hundred titles of his works have been preserved; but his small-pox treatise is the only one which has been published in the original Arabic. It is a remarkable104 and a very interesting fact that he explained the nature of the small-pox and measles by the theory of fermentation.712
The largest work of Rhazes is Al-Háwí, or the Comprehensive book, commonly called “Continens.” In the Latin translation this fills two folio volumes. Although little more than a sort of medical common296place book, it has a value in that it has preserved for us many fragments from the works of ancient physicians which we should not otherwise have possessed. Another important work of Rhazes is the Ketábu-l-Mansúri, or Liber ad Almansorem, so called from being dedicated105 to Mansur, prince of Chorásán. It was intended to instruct the physician in everything which it was necessary for him to know. It is chiefly a compilation106, but was a popular text-book in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Rhazes taught the external use of arsenic107, mercurial108 ointments109, and sulphate of copper110, and the internal use of brandy, nitre, borax, coral, and gems111.
Ali Ben el Abbas (Ali Abbas), who lived in the latter part of the tenth century, was a Persian physician, who wrote a medical text book, entitled the Royal Book. Up to the time of Avicenna, this was the standard authority on medicine amongst the Arabs, and was several times translated into Latin. In the theory of medicine and partly in its practice he followed the Greeks, but imitated the use of the excellent materia medica of the Arabs. He wrote also on ophthalmology and obstetrics.
Avicenna, or Ebn Sina, was called “the Prince of Physicians,” and was the greatest philosopher produced by the Arabs in the East. He was born in the province of Bokhara, in 980 a.d. It is related that at the age of sixteen he had learned all the science of a physician. Having cured Prince Nouh of a serious malady112, he became a court favourite. After travelling for a while he composed his great work, the Canon of Medicine, by which his name was made famous both in Asia and Europe for several centuries. In the midst of the troubles of an adventurous113 life, he wrote a hundred gigantic books, the greatest of which was the Al-Schefà.
Ishak Ben Soleiman (830-940) wrote on dietetics114, and is said to have been the first to introduce senna.
Serapion the Younger (about 1070). His work, De Simplicibus Medicamentis, was published in Latin at Milan in 1473.
Mesue the younger (about 1015) was a pupil of Avicenna, and physician to the court at Cairo. He rendered great services to pharmacy115 by teaching the method of preparing extracts from medicinal plants.
Albucasis was a skilful116 Arab physician, who wrote a work on surgery, entitled Al Tassrif, which contains much ingenious matter on the appliances of practical surgery. He died at Cordova about 1106. His work treats of the application of the actual cautery, so much employed by the Arabs, of ligation of arteries117 in continuity, of the danger of amputating above the knee or elbow, of stitching the bowel118 with threads297 scraped from the intestinal119 coat, operations for hare-lip and cataract120, and fistula by cutting, ligature and cautery. He advised the use of silver catheters as now employed, in place of the copper ones used previously. He recommended anatomy as a valuable aid to surgery.713
Avenzoar, one of the most famous of Arabian physicians, was born near Seville in the latter part of the twelfth century. He was instructed in medicine by his father, whose family had long been connected with the healing art. He was the rational improver of Arabian medicine by the rejection121 of useless theories, and asserted for medicine a place among the advancing sciences of observation. He made it a constant practice to analyse the medicines he used, so that he might acquaint himself with their exact composition. He was loaded with favours by the prince of Morocco, and died at the age of ninety-two in a.d. 1262.
Ebn Albaithar (died about 1197) was a Moorish122 Spaniard, renowned123 for his medical and botanical science. He traversed many regions of the west of Africa and Asia to enlarge his botanical knowledge. He passed some years at the court of Saladin, and wrote on the Virtues124 of Plants, and on poisons, metals, and animals.
Averroes, or Ebn Rosch, was born at Cordova in 1126. He learned theology, philosophy, and medicine from the great teachers of his time. He was the greatest Arabian inquirer in the West, as Avicenna was in the East. He exercised the greatest influence both in his own and succeeding ages. He has been called “the Mohammedan Spinoza,” having been a religious freethinker. The study of Aristotle awakened125 in him a species of pantheism. He was more a philosopher than a physician, but as he had made important observations in medicine, he deserves a place amongst the heroes of the healing art. He was bitterly persecuted amongst his co-religionists for treating the Koran as a merely human work. He taught that the small-pox never attacks the same person more than once. In practice he held very rational views of the action of remedies, and taught that the work of the doctor was chiefly to apply general principles to individual cases. He wrote commentaries on Aristotle so famous as to have gained him the name of “the Commentator126.” He expounded127 the Republic of Plato. He was a most voluminous writer, and was considered by his contemporaries and by our schoolmen as a prodigy128 of science.714
There is a very interesting account of the Indian physicians at the court of Baghdad in a translation made from a MS. in the Rich collection in the British Museum.715 The history is from the work of Ibn Abu298 Usaibiah, who lived at the beginning of the thirteenth century of our era.
Kankah the Indian was a great philosopher as well as a physician; he investigated the properties of medicines “and the composition of the heavenly bodies” (!).
Sanjahal, another learned Indian, wrote on medicine and astrology. From the science of the stars he applied himself to the symptoms of diseases, on which he wrote a book in ten chapters. He gave the symptoms of four hundred and four diseases. He also wrote on The Imagination of Diseases. Shánák wrote on poisons and the veterinary art. Jawdar was a philosopher and a physician who wrote a book on nativities. Mankah the Indian was learned in the art of medicine, and “gentle in his method of treatment.” He lived in the days of Haroun-al-Raschid.
Salih, son of Bolah the Indian, was “well skilled in treatment, and had power and influence in the promotion129 of science.”
Kankah the Indian, says Prof. H. Wilson, was very celebrated in the history of Arabian astronomy. He says that it is certain that the astronomy and medicine of the Hindus were cultivated anteriorly130 to those of the Greeks, by the Arabs of the eighth century. “It is clear that the Charaka, the Susruta, the treatises called Nidán on diagnosis131, and others on poisons, diseases of women, and therapeutics, all familiar to Hindu science, were translated and studied by the Arabs in the days of Haroun and Mansur, either from the originals, or translations made at a still earlier period into the language of Persia.”716
We may conveniently mention here the famous Jew of Spain, Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, or Maimonides (died 1198), a native of Cordova, who was profoundly learned in mathematics, medicine, and other arts. He retired132 to Egypt, where he wrote books on medicine, which were much read. He advised his patients never to sleep in the daytime, and at night only on the side. He recommended them not to retire to rest till three to four hours after supper.717
Medical etiquette133 was rather strict.299 “Operations performed by the hand, such as venesection, cauterization134, and incision135 of arteries, are not becoming a physician of respectability and consideration. They are suitable for the physician’s assistants only. These servants of the physician should also do other operations, such as incision of the eyelids136, removing the veins137 in the white of the eye, and the removal of cataract. For an honourable138 physician nothing further is becoming than to impart to the patient advice with reference to food and medicine. Far be it from him to practise any operation with the hand. So say we!”718
Dentistry was practised, but it was considered by the Arabs, as by the Greek and Roman doctors, a very inferior branch of the profession, and was, for the most part, as with ourselves, till very recently relegated139 to uneducated persons. Midwifery also was, to a great extent, neglected by the higher class of physicians. The Arabian faculty esteemed140 most highly medicine proper, though pharmacy and materia medica were especially studied. The professors were paid by the State, and handsomely as a rule. Their text books were the works of the Greek physicians, especially Hippocrates and Galen. A sort of matriculation examination was required before a student could enter the great schools, and he was subjected to professional examinations (not very severe, presumably) before he was permitted to practise. The Arabian physicians were usually men of the highest culture; not only were they men of science, but of philosophy and literature also. Great mystery was combined with Arabian medical practice; astrology was the handmaid of medicine, and charms entered largely into therapeutics. The physicians wrote prescriptions141 with purgative143 ink; so that “take this!” was meant literally144 when the doctor gave the patient his prescription142. It had to be swallowed in due form.
Although the great civilizations of the East date their origins from a period far more remote than those of the West, they have lagged far behind the West in progress. Professor Freeman defines European society as progressive, legal, monogamous, and, for the last fifteen hundred years, a Christian society; the East he defines as stationary145, arbitrary, polygamous, and Mahometan.719 The dominant146 note of Oriental history is sameness; a monotony which enables us to read in the story of to-day that which took place amongst Eastern peoples a thousand years ago. The history of a single city of Europe is of infinitely147 greater interest to the student of humanity and the history of civilization than that of a whole nation of the East. The history of Florence alone is of greater importance, from this point of view, than that of all China. There is, however, one marvellous history, that of Mahomet and his creed, which excels in interest that of any other man of the Oriental nations. “Nowhere,” says Freeman, “in the history of the world can we directly trace such mighty148 effects to the personal agency of a single mortal.”
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| v.停泊，系泊（船只）( moor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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mosque
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| n.清真寺 | |
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barbarians
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| n.野蛮人( barbarian的名词复数 )；外国人；粗野的人；无教养的人 | |
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ravaged
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| 毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫 | |
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hordes
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| n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 )；部落 | |
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civilized
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relics
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minor
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subdued
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conquerors
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followers
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banished
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monarchs
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| 君主，帝王( monarch的名词复数 ) | |
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14
hospitably
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| 亲切地，招待周到地，善于款待地 | |
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15
hostilities
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| n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事 | |
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16
heresy
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| n.异端邪说；异教 | |
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17
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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18
virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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19
deposed
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| v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证 | |
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20
overthrowing
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| v.打倒，推翻( overthrow的现在分词 )；使终止 | |
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21
supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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22
eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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23
adherents
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| n.支持者，拥护者( adherent的名词复数 )；党羽；徒子徒孙 | |
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24
doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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25
doctrines
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| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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26
compendium
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| n.简要，概略 | |
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27
cultivation
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| n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成 | |
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28
observatories
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| n.天文台，气象台( observatory的名词复数 ) | |
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29
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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30
exhorted
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| v.劝告，劝说( exhort的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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32
faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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33
emulation
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|
| n.竞争；仿效 | |
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34
diffused
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| 散布的，普及的，扩散的 | |
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35
applied
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|
| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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36
Christians
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|
| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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37
Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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38
investigation
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|
| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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39
secondly
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|
| adv.第二，其次 | |
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40
orator
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|
| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
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41
benefactors
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|
| n.捐助者，施主( benefactor的名词复数 )；恩人 | |
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42
savage
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|
| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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43
envoy
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|
| n.使节，使者，代表，公使 | |
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44
immediate
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|
| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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45
lizards
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|
| n.蜥蜴( lizard的名词复数 ) | |
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46
nay
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|
| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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47
slew
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|
| v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多 | |
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48
valiant
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|
| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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49
possessed
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|
| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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50
lawful
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|
| adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的 | |
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51
persecuted
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|
| （尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人 | |
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52
treatises
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| n.专题著作，专题论文，专著( treatise的名词复数 ) | |
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53
treatise
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| n.专著；(专题)论文 | |
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54
consigned
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|
| v.把…置于（令人不快的境地）( consign的过去式和过去分词 )；把…托付给；把…托人代售；丟弃 | |
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55
Moslem
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|
| n.回教徒，穆罕默德信徒；adj.回教徒的，回教的 | |
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56
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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57
distinguished
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|
| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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58
licensed
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|
| adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词) | |
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59
mosques
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|
| 清真寺； 伊斯兰教寺院，清真寺； 清真寺，伊斯兰教寺院( mosque的名词复数 ) | |
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60
essentially
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|
| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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61
adverse
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|
| adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的 | |
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62
philosophical
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|
| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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63
irresistibly
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| adv.无法抵抗地，不能自持地；极为诱惑人地 | |
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64
speculative
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|
| adj.思索性的，暝想性的，推理的 | |
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65
speculation
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|
| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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66
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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67
analytical
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|
| adj.分析的；用分析法的 | |
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68
fanaticism
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| n.狂热，盲信 | |
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69
withdrawn
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|
| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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70
remains
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|
| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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71
ingratitude
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| n.忘恩负义 | |
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72
gratitude
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|
| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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73
naturalist
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|
| n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者) | |
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74
previously
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|
| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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75
aphorisms
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| 格言，警句( aphorism的名词复数 ) | |
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76
belly
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|
| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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77
forth
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|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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78
hues
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| 色彩( hue的名词复数 )； 色调； 信仰； 观点 | |
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79
witchcraft
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| n.魔法，巫术 | |
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80
afflicted
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|
| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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81
rheumatism
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|
| n.风湿病 | |
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82
amulets
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| n.护身符( amulet的名词复数 ) | |
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83
avert
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|
| v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等) | |
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84
creed
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|
| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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85
fully
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|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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86
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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87
jugglery
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| n.杂耍，把戏 | |
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88
charlatanism
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|
| n.庸医术，庸医的行为 | |
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89
dissection
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|
| n.分析；解剖 | |
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90
anatomy
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|
| n.解剖学，解剖；功能，结构，组织 | |
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91
physiology
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| n.生理学，生理机能 | |
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92
faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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93
stipulated
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|
| vt.& vi.规定；约定adj.[法]合同规定的 | |
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94
disapproved
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|
| v.不赞成( disapprove的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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95
gratuitous
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|
| adj.无偿的，免费的；无缘无故的，不必要的 | |
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96
gunpowder
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|
| n.火药 | |
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97
prodigious
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|
| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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98
industrious
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|
| adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的 | |
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99
geographical
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|
| adj.地理的；地区(性)的 | |
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100
embodied
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|
| v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含 | |
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101
oculist
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| n.眼科医生 | |
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102
measles
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|
| n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子 | |
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103
celebrated
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|
| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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104
remarkable
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|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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105
dedicated
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|
| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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106
compilation
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| n.编译，编辑 | |
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107
arsenic
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|
| n.砒霜，砷；adj.砷的 | |
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108
mercurial
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|
| adj.善变的，活泼的 | |
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109
ointments
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|
| n.软膏( ointment的名词复数 )；扫兴的人；煞风景的事物；药膏 | |
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110
copper
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|
| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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111
gems
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|
| growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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112
malady
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|
| n.病，疾病(通常做比喻) | |
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113
adventurous
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| adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的 | |
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114
dietetics
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| n.营养学 | |
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115
pharmacy
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|
| n.药房，药剂学，制药业，配药业，一批备用药品 | |
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116
skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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117
arteries
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| n.动脉( artery的名词复数 )；干线，要道 | |
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118
bowel
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| n.肠(尤指人肠)；内部，深处 | |
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119
intestinal
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|
| adj.肠的；肠壁；肠道细菌 | |
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120
cataract
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| n.大瀑布，奔流，洪水，白内障 | |
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121
rejection
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| n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃 | |
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122
moorish
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| adj.沼地的，荒野的，生[住]在沼地的 | |
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123
renowned
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| adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的 | |
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124
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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125
awakened
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|
| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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126
commentator
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|
| n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员 | |
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127
expounded
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| 论述，详细讲解( expound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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128
prodigy
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|
| n.惊人的事物，奇迹，神童，天才，预兆 | |
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129
promotion
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| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
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130
anteriorly
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| adv.先前地，居先地 | |
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131
diagnosis
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| n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断 | |
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132
retired
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|
| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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133
etiquette
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|
| n.礼仪，礼节；规矩 | |
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134
cauterization
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|
| n.烧灼，腐蚀 | |
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135
incision
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|
| n．切口，切开 | |
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136
eyelids
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|
| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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137
veins
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|
| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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138
honourable
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|
| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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139
relegated
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|
| v.使降级( relegate的过去式和过去分词 )；使降职；转移；把…归类 | |
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140
esteemed
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|
| adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为 | |
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141
prescriptions
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|
| 药( prescription的名词复数 )； 处方； 开处方； 计划 | |
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142
prescription
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|
| n.处方，开药；指示，规定 | |
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143
purgative
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|
| n.泻药；adj.通便的 | |
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144
literally
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|
| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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145
stationary
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| adj.固定的，静止不动的 | |
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146
dominant
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| adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因 | |
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147
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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148
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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