Upon the downfall of the Roman Empire, all the sciences, the arts, and literature, were overwhelmed in the general wreck, and the early Mahometans, in the first paroxysms of their fanaticism, endeavoured to destroy every record of the former progress of the human mind; consigning to destruction, by the conflagration of the Alexandrian library, no less than seven hundred thousand volumes, which comprised the most valuable works of science and literature.[98] It is not a little extraordinary that this same people were destined at a more advanced period, to rekindle the light of letters,[99] which they had taken such pains to extinguish, and to become the inventors and cultivators of a new science, boundless in its views, and inexhaustible in its applications. The medical profession too was more particularly selected as an object of reward and encouragement; and we may say, with much truth, that our _Materia Medica_ is more indebted to the zeal and industry of the Arabians, than to the learning of the Greeks, or to the refinement of the Romans. From this source we have acquired the milder purges of _Manna_, _Cassia_, _Senna_, _Rhubarb_, and many plants and oriental aromatics, amongst, which we may notice _Musk_, _Nutmeg_, _Mace_, and _Cloves_; the introduction of which into medicine was greatly facilitated by the situation of Bagdat, and its connection with India; and although Archigenes and Aretæus had long before applied _Blisters_, yet it is to the Arabian physicians that we are indebted for a practical acquaintance with their value, for in general, the Greeks and Romans prescribed acrid _Sinapisms_ for such a purpose. We are also indebted to the Arabians for our knowledge respecting Camphor, as its name imports, for the original word was _Cafur_ or _Canfur_.[100] They are also the first upon record, who speak of sugar, and sugar-candy, extracted from the sugar-cane, which they call _honey of cane_; and they ushered into practice _Syrups_, _Juleps_, and _Conserves_. At the same time, it is but just to allow, that from the disgusting ostentation of this people, and their strong attachment to the marvellous, many absurd medicines have been introduced. Gold, Silver, Bezoars, and precious stones were received into their materia medica, and surprising virtues were attributed to them. Amongst a people thus disposed to magnificence, and from the very spirit of their religion credulous and romantic, it is not a matter of surprise that their first researches into the nature of bodies should have raised a hope, and excited a belief, that the baser metals might be converted into gold.