Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-12-22
ORIGIN oF MoDERN sCrENcE.

Professor John Draper delivered free
lecture at New York last week In the
chapel Of the University. His subject
was: 'fThe Origin Of Modern Science"
Substantially he said: There are
certain ideas which have become
dormant in the intellectual world
which we call science. Modern sci
ence is not, as generally supposed,
built upon elements derived from Greece /
and Rome. This is tradition without
foundation. Science owes more to Alex
ander than to Athens. There Euclid,
/ Ptolemy, ApOllOnius, Hipparchus, and
Arehimedes studied. The speaker, when
boy, was impressed by the fact that
the names of the stars were Arabic.
| One of them, situated thirty-two de-
! grees from the south pole of the heavens, |
and which did not snow north Of Egypt |
/ or Arabia, he specially noticed. The |
heavens have been spread like scroll !
upon which man may record his |
/ thoughts. Some say the Arabians were |
mere Commentators. But since they
classified the stars they must be regard |
/ ed as original discoveries and phuOsO-
pliers. This false idea arose from pO-
| litieal animOsities. II is necessary to |
study all the phases of the history OF
thought TO reach its real springs. Every |
event and action is the result of fore
Tone event or action. We can only see |
the nearestlinks of the chain Of destiny. |
| We can not see who or what holds the |
| first link. The old magicians were said |
| to have magic crystals, in which, when |
they looked, would appear past events. |
The Doctor imagined himself reading /
! history in such crystal. Twenty cen
! turtles ago Rome ruled a large part Of
hi
as gods, though their dominion Of this !
planet even was far from universal !
Some feeble Syrian fishermen were then |
plying their trade by Galilee whose Ia |
bors were destined to have mighty re-
suits. -Four centuries later the faith /
they taught had spread through the RO- |
man Empire. A great battle is fought /
by Constantine, and he becomes auto 1
crat Of the empire. He degrades Rome /
into a provincial city, builds new cap
ital, and legalizes a new religion. Three /
centuries later, in a corner of Arabia, an /
earnest man has been persuading his /
neighbors to worship God. He wins
victories over souls as well as bodies. /
His Arabian armies OyerTun the Holy /
Land. They capture Asia Minor, Egypt /
and all of North Africa. They establish /
themselves in Spain. The Emperor
and Sultan are then confronted. France
is in danger of falling, when the Caliph /
at Damascus orders his armies TO halt.
II is disobeyed. A barefOoted envoy
comes from Damascus, seizes the Cen
eral before his army, and takes him to
Damascus, and France is saved. Twice
has Rome ruled EurOpe-Once by her
Caesars, once by her POpes. In the
twelfth century the two great powers,
Christian and Mohammedan, were still
confronted. The capture of the Holy
SepuIcher was taken as an insult TO all
Christendom. The POpes had made
the possession Of that place test of
their legitimacy. But they had to let
it 90, and it remains still in the hands Of
the MOslem. The prestige of the Papacy
was shaken by the failure Of the Cru-
-ades. Rome was now sinking in decay.
The Caesar palaces were Wondering /
Columns, temples, arches in ruins adj
ded only desOlation to the scene. The
chief towns of Europe had only novels
for houses. Streets were unpaved. There
were no sewers or aequeducts. Win
dows and beds were lacking. Clothing
once put on remained on the person I'M
Ill it rOtted. Resort to shrines was the
only medicine. Meanwhile Bagdad and
Cairo were full Of luxury, elegance and
comfort. They had baths, libraries, and
splendid dining halls. Their feasts were
marked by sObriety instead Ofthe drunk
en- wassail Ofthe baTbarOus north. Again,
while Rome denied all right or private
Judgment amcng the Christians, among
the MOslems the human mind was IN
fettered. SchOOlh0uses stood by ali the
mosques. Greek classics were carefully
studied. On one point they were cir
cumscribed; they could not make pic
lures or paintings, as they were forbid
den to make fgraven images" But a
reaction ensued. 1t was impossible that
the refinement of Seville should not
sooner or later pass into France. The
south Of France soon felt the charm of
the love songs of the troubadOurs. TassO,
Petrarch, and Dante led the way into
civilization. The science Of the SaTacens
brought Luthers to LanguedOc four CEN
turtles before they appeared in Germany.
Innocent the Third saw the danger
from these bright Moorish innovatOrs.
He had LanguedOc wasted with fire and
sword. The Saraeenic science that most
disturbed the POpes was the Arabic sci
ence of Arithmetic. The Arabs had
improved on the Enumeration received
from the HindOOs. Their system is ,
most wonderful and simple. We speak !
Arabic when we use the word ''eipher.n
But the Arabians also taught Europe its ,
algebra. They were the authors of most /
of the current mathematical rules In
they introduced ''sines." :
They said 1.-The symbols of geometry, by ;
Us, save us the trouble" They !
give US nitric and muriatic acid, and !
other chemicals. They introduced the
of metals as a possibility. /
The speaker believes it will be done in :
this generation. Applause Theira /
in astronomy is proof that /
they were at high position in science. J
When Europe was no better than Caffra- :
ria they gave Us their mathematical Z
of the heavens Laplaee I
found Use for some of their observations; ,
vet at the time these were made the En- J
rOpeans thought that the world was :
square. Terrestrial globes were in use :
among them. They discovered the =
clock and the true length Of :
the year, measured the hight of the at
and understood the twinkling p
of the stars. They built the first observ-
atory at Seville. They saw far into
physics, made tables of specific CRAWL '
ties. In optics they corrected the Greek
theories. They explained how we see n
,ingly looking from two eyes. They in
II /
coffee, steel blades into Europe, and :
lastly the Arabian horse. They made
the I1grain'' the standard of weight, and r
used the word ''earatu In their scien- ?
Iife books there is current Of true dc
votiOn to Deity. They mingled all their q
discoveries with implications for bless
Jugs from heaven. Their philosophical '
opinions, as a curiosity at least, are IN :
In spite of their fatalism q
their best philosophers rest on the fact q
that every living thing rests on some
thing that existed previous to il, This Il
world being q thing of life they say it n
must have been produced and maintain :,
I'd by q living being. They believe that 4
God will finally absorb all things. These I
IDEAS pervaded all Europe after awhile; \
even Wickliffe was tiEetured with them. v
The Franciscans adopted them; the II
hated them. In the thir- y
eenth century Paris was their head u
quarters, and they were all the fashion
n Venice. Columbus was first led by
IN Arabian book TO believe that there
existed q western hemisphere. II from
Rome as center line be drawn to
he Bosphorus and another to the Pyre-
lees, we may say that throughout the
middle ages the darkness of ignorance h,
md the comforts of civilization below. n,
The two regions were in deadly enmity.
rhe Southern nations were the deposit
Ories of Old-time knowledge. This
passed into France through the gates of
he PyTenees. 1t began in the light lit
rature of Tasso, Petrareh, and Ariosto. "
Then came the weightier sciences. Lit q
rary and scientific tidal waves swept uD
rom the South, though bitterly opposed 81
" the churchmen as political neces- 81
ity. How feeble their resistance to the Iii