'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎691] (790/905)

CHAP. XXV.] SCIENCES OF ANCIENT ARABIA.
691
world. Some few of tlie ancient collegiate establishments are Astronomy
still nominally in existence, as well as a portion of the public cuiSatJd
libraries. These, and some inferior schools attached to the
principal mosques, are, however, all that remain of the
splendid establishments of A1 Mamoun, the Augustus of
Arabian literature; and scarcely the feeblest trace of former
knowledge is any where to be met with amongst the present
inhabitants of the country, while the gigantic strides which
have been made in Europe are either totally unknown, or are
felt to be quite beyond their grasp. In no branch of science
is the decline so remarkable as in astronomy. Observations of
the heavenly bodies continued, probably, to be made in the
country from the times of the ancient Chaldeans; and, on
the establishment of the throne of the Khalifs at Baghdad,
by the employment of superior instruments, the values of
several important elements were determined with considerable
accuracy. Among these are the obliquity of the ecliptic, the
precession of the equinoxes, the length of the year, and the
excentricitv of the solar orbit. By the orders of A1 Mamoun, Trigonometry
r- .-ifi i i/nr improved by
a degree of a great circle of the earth was measured at uuia, the Arabs,
and another at Rakkah ; and the mathematician Albatani
made considerable improvements in trigonometry; while, to
the labours of Moorish or Arabian astronomers at Cordova
and Seville is due the introduction of astronomy in Europe.
In Arabia, at present, an astronomical observer is unknown,
and the science is reduced to the formation of rude almanacs,
for purposes connected with astrology.
Every branch of natural science is in an equally low state. Presen^tate^
At one time Arabia could boast of the great physicians A1 e 1116 lca
Razi, and Abdallah ibn Sina, the latter of whom enjoyed the
title of prince of physicians ; l but the healing art in that
country is now reduced to the preparation of a few of the very
simplest medicaments, almost entirely from vegetables. In
surgery they only practice outward applications, such as cata
plasms; and they bleed either with a knife or a large crooked
needle. Inoculation for the small-pox has been long in use.
1 Arabic MS., 1357, in the British Museum.
4 T 2