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into the special merits or demerits of each single tradition. Mathematical accuracy is his last gauge, and wherever the nature of a tradition admits of such a gauge, he is sure to verify it by the help of careful mathematical calculation. To speak in general, there is much of the modern spirit and method of critical research in our author, and in this respect he is a phenomenon in the history of Eastern learning and literature. Authors of the first centuries of the Hijra sometimes betray a great deal of common sense and good method, sometimes also unmistakable traces of a marked individuality, whilst the later centuries are characterised by the very opposite. Then the author entirely disappears behind his book; all literary work sinks down to the level of imbecile compilation from good and bad sources; the understanding of the life and literature of the preceding centuries becomes rare and distorted. Common sense has gone never to return, and very seldom do we meet with a trace of scientific method or of the individuality of the author.

The fourth century is the turning-point in the history of the spirit of Islâm, and the establishment of the orthodox faith about 500 sealed the fate of independent research for ever. But for Alash'arî and Alghazzâlî the Arabs might have been a nation of Galileos, Keplers, and Newtons.

Originally I intended to give a complete exposé of the sources whence Albîrûnî has drawn his manifold information, but the material hitherto available for researches on the literary history of the east is still so scanty that I had to desist from my plan. This applies in particular to the east of the Khalifate, to Khurâsân. We are comparatively well informed regarding the literature of Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, and the farther west of Islâm, whilst we have very little information regarding the scien-