scibili et quibusdam aliis_ (everything knowable and a few other things
besides). It is possible that the work may have been written by a number
of collaborators under the patronage of the bishop, though there is no
sure indication of this to be found either in the volume itself or even
contemporary history. All the ordinary scientific subjects are treated.
Astronomy, geography, mineralogy, botany, and even man and the animals
have each a special chapter. Pouchet, in his "History of the Natural
Sciences During the Middle Ages," calls attention to the fact that, in
grouping the animals for collective treatment in the different chapters,
sometimes the most heterogeneous creatures are brought under a common
heading. Among the fishes, for instance, are classed all living things
that are found in water. The whale and the dolphin, as well as sponges,
and oysters, and crocodiles, and sea serpents, and lobsters, and
hippopotamuses, all find a place together, because of the common watery
habitation. The early Spanish Churchman would seem to have had an
enthusiastic zeal for complete classification that would surely have
made him a strenuous modern zooelogist.

The next link in the tradition of encyclopedic work is the Venerable
Bede, whose character was more fully honored by the decree on November
13, 1899, by Pope Leo XIII declaring him a Doctor of the Church. Bede
was the fruit of that ardent scholarship which had risen in England as a
consequence of the introduction of Christianity. It had been fostered by
the coming of scholar saints from Ireland, but was, unfortunately,
disturbed by the incursions of the Danes. While Bede is known for his
greatest work, the "Ecclesiastical History of the English People," which
gives an account of Christianity in England from its beginning until his
own day, he wrote many other works. His history is the foundation of all
our knowledge of early British history, secular as well as religious,
and has been praised by historical writers of all ages, who turned to it
for help with confidence. He wrote a number of other historical works.
Besides, he wrote books on grammar, orthography, the metrical art, on
rhetoric, on the nature of things, the seasons, and on the calculation
of the seasons. These latter books are distinctly scientific. His
contributions to Gregorian Music are now of great value.

After this, Alcuin and the monks, summoned by Charlemagne, take up the
tradition of gathering and dif