onology of Eusebius was preserved
through an Armenian translation; and reference has more than once been
made to the Arabic translation of Ptolemy's great work, to which we
still apply its Arabic title of Almagest.

The familiar story that when the Arabs invaded Egypt they burned the
Alexandrian library is now regarded as an invention of later times. It
seems much more probable that the library bad been largely scattered
before the coming of the Moslems. Indeed, it has even been suggested
that the Christians of an earlier day removed the records of pagan
thought. Be that as it may, the famous Alexandrian library had
disappeared long before the revival of interest in classical learning.
Meanwhile, as we have said, the Arabs, far from destroying the western
literature, were its chief preservers. Partly at least because of their
regard for the records of the creative work of earlier generations of
alien peoples, the Arabs were enabled to outstrip their contemporaries.
For it cannot be in doubt that, during that long stretch of time when
the western world was ignoring science altogether or at most contenting
itself with the casual reading of Aristotle and Pliny, the Arabs had the
unique distinction of attempting original investigations in science.
To them were due all important progressive steps which were made in any
scientific field whatever for about a thousand years after the time of
Ptolemy and Galen. The progress made even by the Arabs during this long
period seems meagre enough, yet it has some significant features. These
will now demand our attention.

II. MEDIAEVAL SCIENCE AMONG THE ARABIANS

The successors of Mohammed showed themselves curiously receptive of the
ideas of the western people whom they conquered. They came in contact
with the Greeks in western Asia and in Egypt, and, as has been said,
became their virtual successors in carrying forward the torch of
learning. It must not be inferred, however, that the Arabian scholars,
as a class, were comparable to their predecessors in creative genius.
On the contrary, they retained much of the conservative oriental spirit.
They were under the spell of tradition, and, in the main, what they
accepted from the Greeks they regarded as almost final in its teaching.
There were, however, a few notable exceptions among their men of
science, and to these must be ascribed several discoveries of some
importance.

The chief subjects that excited the interest and exer