fter all, here
was the germ of the idea of antisepsis.

NEW BEGINNINGS IN GENERAL SCIENCE

We have dwelt thus at length on the subject of medical science, because
it was chiefly in this field that progress was made in the Western world
during the mediaeval period, and because these studies furnished the
point of departure for the revival all along the line. It will be
understood, however, from what was stated in the preceding chapter,
that the Arabian influences in particular were to some extent making
themselves felt along other lines. The opportunity afforded a portion
of the Western world--notably Spain and Sicily--to gain access to the
scientific ideas of antiquity through Arabic translations could not fail
of influence. Of like character, and perhaps even more pronounced in
degree, was the influence wrought by the Byzantine refugees, who, when
Constantinople began to be threatened by the Turks, migrated to the
West in considerable numbers, bringing with them a knowledge of Greek
literature and a large number of precious works which for centuries
had been quite forgotten or absolutely ignored in Italy. Now Western
scholars began to take an interest in the Greek language, which had been
utterly neglected since the beginning of the Middle Ages. Interesting
stories are told of the efforts made by such men as Cosmo de' Medici to
gain possession of classical manuscripts. The revival of learning
thus brought about had its first permanent influence in the fields of
literature and art, but its effect on science could not be long delayed.
Quite independently of the Byzantine influence, however, the striving
for better intellectual things had manifested itself in many ways before
the close of the thirteenth century. An illustration of this is found
in the almost simultaneous development of centres of teaching, which
developed into the universities of Italy, France, England, and, a little
later, of Germany.

The regular list of studies that came to be adopted everywhere
comprised seven nominal branches, divided into two groups--the so-called
quadrivium, comprising music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy; and
the trivium comprising grammar, rhetoric, and logic. The vagueness of
implication of some of these branches gave opportunity to the teacher
for the promulgation of almost any knowledge of which he might be
possessed, but there can be no doubt that, in general, science had
but meagre share in the curriculum. In so f