The Study of the History of Islamic Science at Manchester

Author(s): Richard Lorch

Source: Bulletin (British Society for Middle Eastern Studies), Vol. 3, No. 2 (1976), pp. 122-
124
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/194587
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 THE STUDY OF THE HISTORY OF ISLAMIC SCIENCE AT MANCHESTER

Richard Lorch

Since the subject is unusual, it will be best to begin with an apologia

for the History of Science in general, and the History of Islamic
Science in particular.
There are two principal reasons for studying the History of Science:
it has its own intrinsic interest, and it deepens understanding of
modern science. Teachers study the History of Science for much the
same reasons as the scientists themselves, for it is obviously easier
to explain a scientific concept if the circumstances that gave rise to
it are known. With these two reasons in mind, it is interesting to
compare the History of Science with Economic, Social, and Political,
History, which, considered as one subject or three, has a large follow-
ing both within and without the universities. If in any period of
history we are instructed by studying the results of economic policy,
the development of institutions, or the machinations of princes, we
shall gain at least as much from an acquaintance with the best minds of
the period, and, of all the products of these minds, the attempt to
understand the outside world must be rated among the highest. Yet
historians have generally neglected this vital aspect of history, im-
portant as it is in the shaping of Western civilization, and it remains
for the historian of science to fill the gap.
It is arguable that the scientist has as much need of the history
of his specialism as the diplomat has of the history of the country he
is sent to. The analogy may be extended to less specialized aspects of
the histories of science and politics. A historical approach gives the
student an invaluable perspective of his subject, and in some cases
even helps him to understand the doctrines, or to acquire the tech-
niques, of his chosen science. For this reason the differential calcu-
lus, for instance, is often taught from a historical standpoint.
The contribution to science of the Arabic-speaking peoples is
largely unknown. The old cliche about the unimaginative transmission
of Greek learning to the resurgent West in the twelfth century has had
to be drastically altered. For instance, we now know that astronomy
between the times of Ptolemy and Copernicus was enriched by more than
the odd observation. Not only were there improvements in mathematical
techniquel and penetrating critiques of both the details2 and the
general philosophy3 of the Ptolemaic system in the intervening period,
but it has recently been discovered that some of the technical devices
used by Copernicus, such as the double epicycle, and even the hypoth-
esis of the Earth's motion5 are to be found in medieval Arabic treat-
ises on astronomy.
What has been said of astronomy could be matched by similar remarks
about mathematics, medicine (particularly surgery), practical chemistry,
and optics.v Furthermore, there can be little doubt that there is an
enormous quantity of information to be gathered on Arabic science, just
for the trouble of looking at the manuscripts. On the whole, philos-
ophy has fared better than science,7 and a serious discussion of th
Arab philosophers and their influence on their Christian successors is
quite usual in histories of medieval philosophy. But there is still
much to be learnt, for example, of the philosophers' approach to as-
tronomy8 or the concept of infinity. Much, too, remains to be known of
the details of translation of Greek works into Arabic--via Syriac or
direct--and of Arabic works into Latin.9 When more is known about the

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translations, it will be possible to make definite judgments about the
originality of many Arabic and Latin treatises. Again, in some sub-
jects, even the relative dating of texts has yet to be sorted out--the
Jabirean corpus of alchemical works is a case in point. There is, in
short, over half a millennium of the history of science that needs
thorough research.
To investigate matters such as these--and it is not forgotten that
new information will inevitably lead to new questions--it has been
suggested that an institute be set up in Manchester, where there is a
large department of the History of Science. It is thought best not to
limit the activities of the institute to theoretical science, but to
include the history of applied science or technology, and commerce in
the Islamic world, in the hope that investigations in one field will
shed light upon the others; for scientific ideas and inventions were
usually transmitted along the trade-routes, and the practical arts of
arithmetic and navigation were pressed into the service of commerce.
A collection of microfilms of unpublished manuscripts is already
being formed. An archive of this sort would constitute the most
original and valuable part of a working library. It is hoped to in-
terest local scholars in the relevant countries both to seek out manu-
script material and to collect information of a more practical kind.
In fact, most of the work would be done by Arab graduates, either
attracted from the Arabic-speaking countries themselves or drawn from
the considerable numbers already here.
Moreover, a publishing programme--which could easily become more
ambitious and active if funds were available--has been begun with a
monograph on the di'irat aZ-mu'addai as described by the Turkish ad-
miral Seydi `Al1.10 Further monographs are being prepared on a text
describing the magnetic compass and an unpublished map of the Aegean
bearing Arabic place-names. Such publications are the result of a reg-
ular weekly seminar held in the University.

Notes
1. See A. von Braunmiihl, Vorlesungen idber Geschichte der Trigonomet
(1900), Chapters 4 and 5 (pp. 42-86).
2. E.g. by Jabir b. Aflah. Gerard of Cremona's translation of his
principal work was published in 1534 under the title De Astronoria
Libri IX.
3. E.g. by al-Bitruji. See B.R. Goldstein's edition of his On the
Principles of Astronomy (1971).
4. See D.A. King's article "Ibn al-Shatir" in Dictionary of Scientific
Biography.
5. E.g. by al-Biruni. See G. Sarton, Introduction to the History of
Science, I, (1927), p. 707.
6. See S.H. Nasr, Islamrrc Science: An Illustrated Survey, 1976.
7. Conventional apologies should perhaps be offered for the use of
this term. Here it means anything that was included under the term
'scientia' except what would now be called philosophy.
8. For instance, Averroes' cosmology outlined by F.J. Carmody in 'The
Planetary Theory of Ibn Rushd' in Osiris X (1952), pp. 556-86, has
yet to be squared with his Abbreviation of the Almagest mentioned
by Steinschneider in Hebraischen Ubersetzungen, 1893, pp. 546-9.
9. A start has been made by scholars such as J. Millas Vallicrosa and
R. Walzer, but much remains to be done.

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10. See William Brice, Colin Imber, and Richard Lorch, The DE'ire-yi
Mu addel of Seydit 'AZ Re'is (Seminar on Early Islamic Science:
Monograph No. 1) (Manchester, 1976). (This publication is
obtainable from the editor of this BuZZetin. Price: U.K. 50p. plus
postage; $2, post free, abroad.) For the confirmation given by
Seydl 'All of the archaeomagnetic value of the magnetic deviation
see the note by Brice, Imber, Lorch and P. Pelham in Archaeometry
XVIII (1976).

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