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(Continued
from issue #10)
History
of the Jewish Physicians, from the French of E. Carmoly, by John R. W.
Dunbar, M. D. &c. Baltimore, 8 vo. pp. 94.
Under
the reign of Haroun al Rashid the healing art flourished greatly, owing
to the liberality and wisdom of this renowned prince of the East, who
was contemporaneous with Charlemagne of France, to whom the former sent
an embassy in 865, headed by a French Israelite. Haroun extended, as we
should judge, (there is some little ambiguity in the work under review,)
the school at Baghdad, and assigned to it the most celebrated Jewish and
Christian physicians to teach the sciences, an example of enlightened
toleration which must put to shame many of modern state philosophers,
who see no safety in any policy which acts not upon the principle of
exclusion. The Caliph gave these teachers good salaries, and decreed
that those who wished to become physicians should be examined by these
professors, as was the custom in the Nestorian schools. Among the
distinguished men of the Baghdad school of that day we have Joshua ben
Nun, surnamed the Rabbi of Seleucia, of the particulars of whose life
but little is known, except that at the beginning of the ninth century
he enjoyed great celebrity as a good practitioner and an excellent
theorist. His school was much frequented, and many great names of that
day are recorded among his scholars. The translation into the Arab
language of books from the ancient Greek, such as Aristotle, Plato,
Ptolemy, was continued; and the religious wars and troubles of the time
having driven many learned men from Constantinople, then the head of the
Greek empire, they spread all over the East, and schools and academies
sprung up in every direction, first at Basora, Samarcand, and Ispahan,
then Alexandria, Fez, and Morocco, and next in Sicily, Provence; but
chiefly Spain became the seat of Oriental sciences, and Cordova,
Seville, Toledo, Saragossa, and Grenada vied generously for the front
rank in these noble pursuits. And here, where the Hebrews were at
liberty to pursue sciences, they aided the Arabs in pushing them onward,
and did good service to medical studies; and among the learned Jews of
the reign of Mahmoud the name of Meshalla is given, who obtained great
renown as astronomer, astrologer, and physician.
Concerning
the spread of the sciences to Western Europe, our author says:
"Up
to this period these luminaries of knowledge, had been exclusively
confined to the Jews of Asia and Africa. The time had arrived when those
of Europe became partakers of the same sciences. The Saracens, assembled
from all parts of their vast region upon the frontiers of France, appear
to have been brought there only to diffuse a taste for learning among an
ignorant people. In fact it is only since the invasion of the Arabs that
we have seen the sciences cultivated successfully, by the Israelites of
this country. These were Meshullam ben Kalonymos, Joseph ben Gorion,
Moses ben Yehuda, Todros of Narbonne, Joseph ben Levi, and Sedekias, who
led the way in introducing this celebrated epoch.
"The
last was the physician of Louis the Meek, and Charles the Bald, his
successor. He was high in favour with those princes, and died in the
year 880, honoured by all who knew him."
Nevertheless,
the East was the great source of light; and the Jewish schools became so
eminent that the jealousy of the Arabs was excited to such a degree,
that in 853 it was ordered that Jewish and Christian students should be
taught in the Hebrew and Syrian languages, to the exclusion of the
Arabic. Two names of celebrity are mentioned, Isaac ben Amram and Isaac
ben Soleiman, also called Abou Jacob and D'Israeli. This last was born
in 832, in Egypt, was at first oculist, and settled finally at Kairowan,
where he became pupil of the former. Being soon celebrated for his
genius and knowledge, he was appointed physician to Abou Mahomed,
Abd-Alla Mahdi, King of Africa. He died in 932.
Of
the European schools we are told:
"Some
learned Israelites emigrated into Sicily with the Arabs, and formed there institutions for the cultivation of letters and the
sciences. They founded the celebrated schools of Tarentum, Palermo,
Salernum, and Bari, where medicine was taught with remarkable care.
Shabatai Donolo gained an exalted reputation in the healing art, and was
styled as a mark of distinction the physician.
"He
was born at Aversa, about the 913th year of the common era:
he studied under the Rabbi Uriel, one of the ten pious Rabbis, who were
massacred in the year 925. At that period a body of Moors made a descent
on the city of Aversa, and took it, and put to the sword a great number
of the inhabitants, others they led captives to Palermo and Africa.
Among these were the relatives of our Shabtai. He himself escaped and
took refuge at Tarentum, when scarcely twelve years of age.
"After
having finished his studies with distinction at this city, and probably
also at Salernum, he travelled to all parts of Italy, where he believed
he should find learned Israelites to teach him the science of astronomy.
But he could find no one who could gratify his desires. He then
addressed himself to the learned Greeks and Arabians, and after long
search, he finally found a learned man from Baghdad, named Bagrat,
who taught him this science, and he became one of the most learned men
of his nation."
(To be continued.)
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