er learning, founded by the Arabs, at
first as rather strict imitations of the museums or academies of Egypt
and Asia Minor, gradually changed their character under the Arabs. Their
courses became much more formal, examinations became much more
important. Scholarship was sought not so much for its own sake, as
because it led to positions in the civil service, to the favor of
princes, and, in general, to reputation and pecuniary reward. Formal
testimonials proclaiming education, signed by the academic authorities,
were introduced and came to mean much. Lawyers could not practise
without a license, physicians also required a license. These formalities
were adopted by the Western medieval universities to a considerable
degree and have been perpetuated in the modern time. Undoubtedly they
did much to hamper real education among the Arabs by setting in place of
the satisfaction of learning for its own sake and the commendation of
teachers the formal recognition of a certain amount of work done as
recognized by the educational authorities. There was always a tendency
among the Arabs to formulate and formalize, to over-systematize what
they were at; to think that new knowledge could be obtained simply by
speculating over what was already acquired, and developing it. There are
a number of comparisons between this and later periods of education
that might be suggested if comparisons were not odious.

The influence of Arabian medicine on modern medicine can, perhaps, best
be judged from the number of words in our modern nomenclature, which,
though bearing Latin forms, often with suggestion of Greek origins,
still are not derived from the old Latin or Greek authors, but represent
Arabic terms translated into Latin during the Renaissance period. Hyrtl,
without pretence of quoting them all, gives a list of these which is
surprising in its comprehensiveness. For instance, the mediastinum, the
sutura sagittalis, the scrobiculus cordis, the marsupium cordis, the
chambers of the heart, the velum palati, the trochanter, the rima
glottidis, the fontanelles, the alae of the nose, all have their present
names, not from original Latin expressions, but from the translation of
Arabic terms. For all such words the Greeks and Romans have quite other
expressions, in which the sense of our modern terms is not contained.
This has given rise to many misunderstandings, and to many attempts in
the modern times to return to the classic terminology rathe