[66] Beigel, W. Nachricht von einer Arabischen Himmelskugel mit Kufischer Schrift, welche im kurfürstlichen Mathematischen Salon zu Dresden aufbewahrt wird. (In: Bodes Astronomisches Jahrbuch für das Jahr 1808. Berlin, 1808. pp. 97 ff.); Drechsler, A. Der arabische Himmelsglobus angefertigt 1279 zu Meragha. Dresden, 1873. [67] Sedillot, L. A. Mémoire sur les instruments astronomiques des Arabes. Paris, 1841. pp. 117 ff.; same author. Matériaux pour servir à l’histoire comparée des sciences mathématiques chez les grecs et les orientaux. Paris, 1845. Vol. I, pp. 334 ff.; Jomard, M. Monuments de la Géographie. Paris, 1854. It is very doubtful that a date so early should be given to this globe. [68] Information courteously given by M. L. Vallée. [69] Dorn, B. Drei in der kaiserlichen öffentlichen Bibliothek zu St. Petersburg befindliche astronomische Instrumente mit arabischen Inschriften. (In: Mémoires de l’Académie Impériale des Sciences de St. Pétersbourg. St. Pétersbourg, 1865. VIIᵉ serie, Tome IX, No. 1.) [Illustration: Arabic Celestial Globe. _From Dorn’s illustration_] Chapter IV Terrestrial and Celestial Globes in the Christian Middle Ages General attitude of the period toward the theories of the Greeks and the Romans.—Scripture statements as sources of information.—Inclination of certain early writers to accept the doctrine of a spherical earth.—The particular attitude of Pope Sylvester II.—The asserted interest of Emperor Frederick II in scientific studies.—Alfonso the Wise and the Alfonsian tables.—Interesting allusions in Alfonso’s work to globes and globe construction.—Giovanni Campano of Novara and the statements in his ‘Tractatis de sphera solida.’—The attitude of Albertus Magnus, Sacrobosco, Roger Bacon, Vincent of Beauvais, Dante. For many centuries following the fall of the Western Roman Empire, there appears to have been in Christian Europe but little interest in the fundamental principles of geographical or astronomical science. The theories of the Greeks and the Romans respecting a spherical earth and a spherical firmament encompassing it, in illustration of which they had constructed globes, were not entirely forgotten, but such theories in general were considered to be valueless, hindrances rather than helps to the theological beliefs of the new Christian era.[70]