All these translations, and even Honaim's, were very imperfectly executed, though the latter, disgusted by the treatment of Mesue, had retired two years to the Grecian islands, where he had cultivated his knowledge of their language. Indeed, on all occasions the Arabians take the liberty of altering the arrangement, and often the sense, of the Greek authors, so that they can scarcely be recognised in their new forms. The names of plants are also so much changed, that many are, at present, unknown.

Mesue was the first author, after Aaron, who wrote on medicine. He also is styled a Syrian, as he probably wrote in the Syriac language, and was apparently educated under one of the descendants of Bactishua. Yet, when we compare his works which now remain with the criticisms of Haly Abbas, we are obliged to remove him to a later date, or admit, with the best historians, that there were two or more of that name, of very different periods.

Serapion seems to have been next in succession to Mesue, and was probably the first medical author who wrote in Arabic. Historians have differed also about his era, and the knot, as usual, has been cut, by supposing that there were other authors of this name; for Serapion is only a Patronymic; but Haly Abbas, who wrote near his time, quotes his works as they have been handed down, and places him between Mesue and Rhazes. In other respects he merits little attention.

Rhazes, the great luminary of the Arabians, flourished about the middle of the tenth century. To him it is supposed that we are indebted for the first description of the small pox; and, in fact, he is the first author on this subject which has reached us, though we are informed that it was publicly described by a preceding physician, Amrou. The two great works of Rhazes are the Continent, and the ten books styled Almanzor, addressed to Mansor, king of the Corassini. The first appears rather a common place book, in which facts and observations are obscurely noticed for his own recollection. The second is a full and complete view of medical science, taken almost exclusively from the Greek physicians. Rhazes, however, was the first author who spoke professedly of the diseases of children, and he first described the spina ventosa. The Arabians are said to have been the earliest physicians who applied chemistry to medicine, and chemical remedies have been attributed to Avicenna, We were therefore anxious to point out the early traces of this connection in the Greek authors; and Rhazes certainly, in many instances, spoke of chemical preparations.

Haiy Abbas, or Haly, the son of Abbas, we have already mentioncd. His only work is styled Almaleki, or the Whole Book of Medicine. One half of this work is theoretical, and the other practical. Haly, however, is chiefly valuable for his remarks and criticisms on Mesue, Serapion, and Rhazes. Liberal in his censures on others, he has added nothing from himself to the stock.

Avicenna is the most celebrated author of the Arabians. He flourished early in the eleventh century, and was born at Bockara, in Chorasan. He was the last of the Arabian authors of medicine; for his successors were born in Spain, where the Saracens were then triumphant, and little communication seems to have been held between the eastern and western empire. Avicenna has, however, little of his own: he was merely a compiler, though his chief wark, his Canon, was for centuries commented on, and the syllabus or foundation of the lectures in every university. Of Albucasis, undoubtedly the same author who is sometimes styled Alzaharavi, we have already spoken in the history of surgery. It is, therefore, only necessary to mention him, as it preserves the connection with the Arabian authors, and to add, that he flourished near the end of the eleventh century.

Avenzoar, or the son of Zohr, was an Arabian of the western empire, born at Sevil, in Spain, apparently about the beginning of the twelfth century. He lived to the very advanced age of a hundred and thirty-five, and continued his practice to the last, from which he has been called Experimentator. The term probably implies the experienced; for he deserves not the title of empiric, which, in the opinion of some authors, this term implies. He treats of medicine in a rational, often in a dogmatic, manner, and seems first to have described the inflammation of the mediastinum, and of the pericardium, as well as the dropsy and empyema of the pericardium. It is a singular remark, that he cannot follow Galen's advice in giving asses' milk in consumptive eases, as it is unlawful for the Saracens to drink the milk or eat the flesh of this animal, and that he, therefore, substituted goat's milk. It is only, however, to the stricter sects of Mahometans that the ass is an abomination; but this circumstance may account for the use of goat's milk. He first recommended the bezoar, and seems to have been particularly expert as a surgeon. From some parts of his works we should even suspect that he had dissected dead bodies. In his time, surgery, pharmacy, and medicine, seem to have been practised by different persons, and neither Avenzoar nor Averhoes quotes the Arabian physicians of the east. The little connection between the Arabians of the east and west seems to have been owing to a political, or rather a religious, dissention respecting the true caliph.

Averhoes was also a Spaniard, who flourished early in the thirteenth certury; but rather distinguished for his Commentary on Aristotle than for his medical writings. His Compendium Medicinae, however, in seven books, has been highly commended by some authors.

Mose Ben Maimon, a scholar and a cotemporary of Averhoes, was born at Corduba; and, though a Jew, was archiater of Saladin. the sultan of Egypt. He was the author of a Treatise on Regimen, addressed to the sultan of Babylon, and of Aphorisms, according to the Doctrines of Hippocrates and Galen.

The works of some other Arabian authors are extant, particularly of Abenguefit, Bulcasen, Jesu Haly,cama- :manusali, etc.; but we cannot find that they contain any thing peculiarly interesting to the progress of science. Indeed, during its cultivation in the east, we find little added to the stock. The Arabians certainly introduced many new medicines, made some additional progress in medical chemistry, and mitigated the severity of the Grecian practice. The new diseases, which they described, are few. The small pox was a native of the east, and the others were in no respect highly important. They seem, therefore, to have cherished, and but slightly to have animated, the spark. The Arabian writers refine, indeed, with great fancy, and distinguish with the most minute precision; but their metaphorical and ornamented language they have wisely left to their poets. Perhaps, fromthe example of then-grecian masters, they are often concise, and generally reason with correctness and precision.