us to find that the method of compilation was
nearly the same as that employed at the present day. Young men, mainly
members of Vincent's own order of the Dominicans, were engaged in
collecting the material, collating references, and verifying
quotations. The main burden of the work, however, fell upon Vincent
himself, and he accordingly deserves the reputation for wonderful
industry which he has enjoyed. Much as he wrote, however, it does not
exceed much in amount what was written by others of the great
scholastics, and theirs was original material and not merely the
collection of information.

If we had no other evidence of interest in nature and in natural
science than this great work of Vincent of Beauvais, it would be ample
to show the absurdity of the general impression that exists in the
minds of most scientists, and, unfortunately, also in the minds of
many educators, with regard to the barrenness of interest of {336} the
Middle Age in natural phenomena. It might easily be imagined that this
work of Vincent would have very little of interest for a modern
scientist. Any such anticipation is entirely due, however, to the
false impression that exists with regard to the supposed ridiculously
absurd views in matters of science entertained by the medieval
scholars. Those who do not take their opinions on theory, but actually
consult the books with regard to which they are ready to express
themselves, have no such opinion. There has been much more interest in
this class of books and in the scientific side of the literature of
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries during the last few years, and
the consequence has been a complete reversal of opinions with regard
to them, among German and French scholars.

An excellent example of this is to be noted in Dr. Julius Pagel, who,
in his chapter on Medicine in the Middle Ages, in Puschmann's Handbook
of the History of Medicine, says: "There were three writers whose
works were even more popular than those of Albertus Magnus. These
three were: Bartholomew the Englishman, Thomas of Cantimprato, and
Vincent of Beauvais, the last of whom must be considered as one of the
most important contributors to the generalization of scientific
knowledge, not alone in the thirteenth, but in the immediately
succeeding centuries. His most important work was really an
encyclopedia of the knowledge of his time. It was called the Greater
Triple Mirror, and there is no doubt that it reflected ve