Huntsville gazette., 1886-12-25
INDUSTRIOUS SARACENS.
Speculations as to Their Mission in
the World.
Faithful Investigators, But Devoid of the
Faculty of Grouping New Facts, Scien-
tifically-Discoveries in Astronomy,
Chemistry and Alchemy.

Was the Arabian mind scientific in
the sense that the Greek mind had
proved itself so, or in the sense in
which the mind of Christian Europe
proved itself so when, at length, the
latter fell heir to the knowledge of the
ancients?
If we put the question in this form
we find 1t can not be answered by
merely enumerating the multitude of
things the Arabians knew We must
consider the use they were able. to
make of their knowledge. 1t is an es-
sential characteristic Of the scientific
spirit that not only acquaints itself
with multitude of phenomena, but
arranges such phenomena in harmo-
nious systems which display pervading
laws and point to originating forces
We may have vast accumulations of
facts without science, and we may 90
on adding to the store without directly
advancing science. Some master
mind must come and treat the accumu-
lations scientifically. The discovery
of new fossil species or new min
eral, or in the present state Of chem
istry and astronomy, of a new metal
or new asteroid, or, in mental
science, the mere noting of
hitherto unnoticed form of action,
may be an entirely insignificant event.
The process of fact-accumulation often
goes on for long time without any re-
suit of Importance to science as such.
1t is not useless process, because
facts are the a, b, C, or the bricks and
mortar of science, but they are not
science. What we so name is the archi-
tectural thought into which the bricks
and mortar of facts are wrought, and
by which we secure harmonious
unifcation of phenomena. OF this
kind of work we find little or none
among the Arabians. They took the
systems which were handed over to
them, along with avast amount of ma
terial which had not yet been wrought
into systems, and they left all substan-
TALLY as they found it. In one depart
ment and another they increased the
how to work it up. They toiled per-
severingly and with self-denial, travel
ing to the ends of the earth, examin-
ing, collecting, studying and observ-
ing, but they had not constructive gen
ius. In astronomy they made numer-
Ous observations with their improved
instruments, and published astronom-
ical tables, which, as the Saracens were
able to observe more closely than their
predecessors, were better than those
that existed among the ancients. They
measured over and over again the in
clination of the ecliptic, and, in order
to determine the earths dimensions,
they ascertained by careful toll the
length of degrees of latitude in two
different regions. But they made but
one, or possibly two, new discoveries
which might affect the condition of as
Economical science: the motion Of the
suns apogee, detected by Ell Batini,
and the third irregularity of the moon,
by Abul Wefa. The first of these OBJ
servations reflects great credit upon its
author. The propriety of giving TO
Abul Wefa the merit of the second has
been questioned, and by some of the
highest authorities denied. In view Of
the dispute we must leave his desert
undetermined. Whether or not he de-
tected the motion, it is remarkable that
the moon variation, as the third irreg-
ularity is called, was lost sight of
by the Arabians, if they ever knew of
it. Abul Wefa did not pursue the sub
iect, nor was the amount of the varia-
ton reduced to measure. The irregu-
larity was so completely forgotten, that
when it was noticed by Tycho Brahe it
was supposed to be an entirely new
contribution to astronomical science.
The one discovery in astronomy, there
fore, which is fully conceded-that of
the motion of the SUMS apogee- stands
as marked exception in all the work
of the Arabian astronomers, extended
over period of five hundred years. In
contrast with this result, Christian Eu-
rope had not been in possession of Greek
astronomy more than three or four hum
dred years before the whole Hippar-
chan theory was revolutionized by
Copernicus, while Newton's great
theory of universal gravitation was
woven around the whole solar system
only century and half later. The
Saracens had complained of the un-
wieldiness of the Hipparchan system,
but they lacked either the genius or
the independence to break away from
it. Their career in other branches OF
science is of like character.
Into states and hydraulics they in
troduced no new principle, nor were
they able to move forward and estab-
lish science of motion or dynamics-
Their great physicist was FL Hazen,
to whose credit is to be placed the
further prosecution of Ptolemy 5 OBJ
servations on the refraction of light, o.