Page:The growth of medicine from the earliest times to about 1800.djvu/218



"The works on philosophy, which are contained in the public libraries," John replied.

"I can do nothing about them without a special order from the Prince of Believers, Omar ben Khattab," was the answer given by Amrou.

John's wish having in the meantime been conveyed by the General to Omar, the latter sent this reply:—

"As to the books of which you speak, I have this to say. If their contents agree with what is written in the word of God, the books are of no use to us, the Holy Writ being sufficient for our guidance. But if they are at variance with God's word, then surely they should be destroyed."

Amrou therefore ordered all the books to be sent to the bathing establishments of Alexandria, to be used as fuel in heating the baths. So great was the number of books contained in the libraries that it took six months to consume them all. (Sismondi questions the correctness of this account.)

While the invasion of Rome by the Barbarians in the fifth century and the capture of Alexandria by the Arabs in the early part of the seventh gave rise to an enormous loss of valuable books relating to medicine and philosophy in general, these were by no means the only occasions when books were probably destroyed in great quantities. Wars were frequent in those days and towns were constantly being sacked. Everywhere throughout the East the modern traveler encounters the ruins of large cities, and in those cities—the centres, as they were, of wealth and culture—there must have been large collections of books. It is not at all strange, therefore, that when the Caliph Almansur made a serious beginning of the work which was to convert the Arabs into rivals of the ancient Greeks, he should have found a great scarcity of medical works which, after being translated, were to serve as manuals of instruction. However, his ambition was very great, his wealth almost inexhaustible, and his associates eager to aid him in realizing the renaissance which he had planned for his people; and, as will appear later on, he and those who aided him eventually succeeded in overcoming this apparently insurmountable obstacle.