George Backtischwah, or Bocht Jesu, was a Greek physician, a descendant of the persecuted Christians of the Greek empire, who embracing the heresy of Nestorius had been compelled to fly for safety and peace to the Persians. Al-Manzor (754-775) invited Backtischwah to his court, and this physician was the first to present to the Arabians translations of the medical works of the Greeks. The Nestorians had founded a school of medicine in the province of Gondisapor, which was already famous in the seventh century. From this school issued a crowd of learned Nestorians and Jews, famous for their knowledge of medicine and surgery, but still more for their ability to endow the East with all the treasures of Greek literature.[696]
Baghdad.
The city of Baghdad was built by the Caliph Almansor, in A.D. 763, on the ruins of a very ancient city; it soon became the most splendid city in the East. Almansor had personally cultivated science, and was a lover of letters and of learned men. He offered rewards for translations of Greek authors on philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, and medicine.
A college was established by the Caliph which ultimately became famous. Public hospitals and a medical school were also established by the same enlightened ruler. Meryon says[697] that there is reason to suppose that in the laboratories established at Baghdad for the preparation of medicines the science of chemistry may have first originated.[698]
The son of Mesuach presided over the translations of the works of Galen and all the treatises of Aristotle into Arabic; but when they had extracted the science from Greek literature, they consigned all the rest of it to the flames, as dangerous to the Moslem faith.[699]
Many Christian physicians were employed at Baghdad.
The vizier of a Sultan gave two hundred thousand pieces of gold to found a college at Baghdad, which he endowed with an annual revenue of fifteen thousand dinars.[700] Under the reign of Haroun-al-Raschid and his successors this school flourished vigorously, and many translations of Greek medical works were made therein.
The Arabians have greatly distinguished themselves in the science of medicine. In the city of Baghdad eight hundred and sixty physicians, says Gibbon, were licensed to practise. The names of Mesua and Geber, of Rhazis and Avicenna are not less famous than are those of the greatest names amongst the Greeks themselves. The independent medical literature of the Saracens arose in the ninth century, and gradually developed till it reached the zenith of its glory in the eleventh. The mosques were then the universities, and besides that of Baghdad, Bassora, Cufa, Samarcand, Ispahan, Damascus, Bokhara, Firuzabad, and Khurdistan, not omitting the schools of the Fatimites in Alexandria, were centres of Eastern science and art, and the equally famous universities of Cordova, Seville, Toledo, Almeria, Murcia, Granada, and Valencia, sustained in Europe the dignity of the Arabian learning. When the conquest of Africa was complete, Spain was invaded, and about the year 713 was reduced to a Moslem province. Cordova became not less distinguished for learning than Baghdad, and many writers were given to the world from the adjacent towns of Malaga, Almeria, and Murcia. Gibbon says that above seventy public libraries were opened in the cities of Andalusia.
In the words of Professor Nicholl, “The Semitic race is essentially unscientific, and adverse to the presentation of philosophical or moral truth in a scientific form. The Indo-European genius, on the contrary, tends irresistibly towards intellectual system, or science.” This will at once be perceived when we examine the Vedas, the works of any Greek author, or those of Teutonic speculative writers, and then turn to any Semitic books. We instantly perceive that in the latter we have nothing but belief or intuition, with more or less of the doctrine of Revelation or Inspiration. In the works of Aryan origin, on the contrary, we are at the opposite pole; we have speculation, inquiry, an insatiable desire to solve the mystery of things—the analytical spirit which asks a reason for every phenomenon in the universe. In the Semitic races this resolves itself into either a living faith and a pure life corresponding thereto, or into a reckless fanaticism founded on fatalism. In the Aryan races we have the most daring intellectual activity, or the driest dogmatism.[701]
It was in Spain that the Semitic and Aryan intellects met and happily blended. Spain remembered the advantages of Roman influences long after they were withdrawn. The Goths, who spread themselves over the Peninsula, preserved the remains of the civilization which the Romans had left; and the Jews, afterwards to be treated with such cruel and base ingratitude by the nation which they had so greatly benefited, advanced the cause of education by their numerous schools and learned writers.[702]