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. Collier's new encyclopedia : a loose-leaf and self-revising reference work ... with 515 illustrations and ninety-six maps. swritten in an alphabet of its own, whichhas also been adopted in writing Persian,Hindustani, Turkish, etc. As in all Se-mitic languages (except the Ethiopic), itis read from right to left. Poetry amongthe Arabs had a very early development,and before the time of Mohammed poet-ical contests were held and prizes award-ed for the best pieces. The progress ofthe Arabs in literature, the arts andsciences, may be said to have begun withthe government of the caliphs of thefami
. Collier's new encyclopedia : a loose-leaf and self-revising reference work ... with 515 illustrations and ninety-six maps. swritten in an alphabet of its own, whichhas also been adopted in writing Persian,Hindustani, Turkish, etc. As in all Se-mitic languages (except the Ethiopic), itis read from right to left. Poetry amongthe Arabs had a very early development,and before the time of Mohammed poet-ical contests were held and prizes award-ed for the best pieces. The progress ofthe Arabs in literature, the arts andsciences, may be said to have begun withthe government of the caliphs of thefamily of the Abbassides, A. D. 749, atBagdad, several of whom, as Haroun alRaschid and Al Mamun, were munificentpatrons of learning; and their example was followed by the Ommiades in Spain were established numerousacademies and schools, which were visitedby students from other Euiopean coun-tries; and important works wei-e writtenon geography, history, philosophy, medi-cme, physics, mathematics, arithmetic,geometry and astronomy. Most of thegeography in the Middle Ages is thework of the Arabians, and their histo-. AA^ ^^^/^ ARABIAN ORNAMENT rians since the 8th century have beenvery numerous. Of their philosophicalauthors the most celebrated are Alfarabi(10th century), Ibn Sina or Avicenna(died A. D. 1037), Alghazzali (died 1111),Ibn Roshd or Averroes (12th century),called by pre-eminence the Commentator,etc. In medicine they excelled all othernations in the Middle Ages, and they arecommonly regarded as the earliest ex-perimenters in chemistry. It was bythem that algebra (a name of Arabicorigin) was introduced to the westernpeoples, and the Arabic numerals weresimilarly introduced. Astronomy theyespecially cultivated, for which famousschools and observatories were erectedat Bagdad and Cordova. The tales offairies, genii, enchanters, and sorcerersin particular, passed from the Arabiansto the western nations as in The Thou-sand and One Nights. ARABIAN NIGHTS ENTERTAIN-MENTS,
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1921