The great Khalif Al-Mamun had declared that "they are the elect of God, his best and most useful servants, whose lives are devoted to the improvement of their rational faculties; that the teachers of wisdom are the true luminaries and legislators of this world, which, without their aid, would again sink into ignorance and barbarism." After the example of the medical college of Cairo, other medical colleges required their students to pass a rigid examination.

The candidate then received authority to enter on the practice of his profession.

The first medical college established in Europe was that founded by the Saracens at Salerno, in Italy.

The first astronomical observatory was that erected by them at Seville, in Spain.
THE ARABIAN SCIENTIFIC MOVEMENT.

It would far transcend the limits of this book to give an adequate statement of the results of this imposing scientific movement.