various parts of his life afford subjects of controversy rather than of precise information. The place and even the country in which he was born is the first subject of dispute. A Nubian and an Egyptian origin have both been assigned to him on the basis of a doubtful reading in his work, which speaks of " the Nile of Egypt which cuts our land." In 1663 Bochart stated that he had found in a manuscript of Leo Africanus that Edrisi was born at Mazara, in Sicily, in 1098. Next year, however, the manuscript was edited by Hottinger, in an appendix to his Eibliothecarius Quadripartitus, and it then appeared that the person supposed to be Edrisi was there named Esseriff Essachalli. Esseriff, or Scheriif, is indeed a usual appellation of Edrisi, but as it is only an honorary title and not a proper name, it does not help the identification. The most positive assertion on the subject is that of Casiri, who says (Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispanica, ii. 9), that if Edrisi, as appeared probable, were the person designated by the Mahometan writers as Abu-Abdallah Mohamad Ben Mohamad Ben Abdallah Ben Edris, he was born at Septa, or Ceuta, on the coast of Morocco, in 493 a.h. (1099 A.D.) Casiri not only qualifies his statement, but he does not mention the authorities from which it is derived; so that its acceptance rests only upon the confidence reposed in his learning and accuracy. Edrisi was long a mighty name in Northern Africa, but in 919 the dynasty was subverted by Mahedi Abdallah, and the proscribed wrecks of the family, according to D'Herbelot, afterwards sought refuge in Sicily. If we may trust the information of Casiri, Edrisi pursued his studies at Cordova, and from the accurate description he has given of Spain, it is probable that he had travelled through a great part of that country. Various circumstances prove that he removed to Sicily, and began to compose his great work under the patronage, and indeed at the express desire, of Roger II., king of that
island. It was completed about 548 a.h. (1153 A.D.)His work has appeared under various titles. The first and fullest seems to have been, The going out of a Curious Man to explore the Regions of the Globe, its Provinces, Islands, Cities, and their Dimensions and Situation. This is sometimes abbreviated. Sionita published it under the name of Relaxation of the Curious Mind ; but the alternative title of Nubian Geography, which he and his companion imposed, is altogether arbitrary. It contains a full descrip tion of the whole world, as far as it was known to the author, who is said to have received reports from a number of learned explorers despatched expressly to collect infor mation for his use. The world is divided into seven climates, commencing at the equinoctial line, and extending north wards to the limit at which the earth was supposed to be rendered uninhabitable by cold. Each climate is then divided by perpendicular lines into eleven equal parts, beginning with the western coast of Africa and ending with the eastern coast of Asia. The whole world is thus formed into 77 equal square compartments. The geo grapher begins with the first part of the first climate, including the western part of Central Africa, and proceeds eastward through the different divisions of this climate till he finds its termination in the Sea of China. He then returns to the first part of the second climate, and so proceeds till he teaches the eleventh part of the seventh climate, which terminates in the north-eastern extremity of Asia. The inconveniences of the arrangement are obvious; but the author appears to have been writing an illustrative treatise to accompany an actual representation of the world which he had engraved en a silver disk or possibly a silvei globe.
Two valuable manuscripts of Edrisi exist in the Bibliothenue Nationale at Pans, and other two in the Bodleian Library. The first of the Engli h MSS., which was brought over from Egypt by Greaves, is written in the Arabic character peculiar to Northern Africa. It is illustrated by a map of the known world, and by 33 other maps, containing each part of a climate, so that there are maps only for the first three climates. The second manuscript, brought by Pococke from Syria, is written in the Arabic character used in that country, and bears the date of 906 a.h., or 1500 A.D. It consists of 320 leaves, and is illustrated by one general and 77 particular maps, the latter consequently including all the parts of every climate. The general map was published by Dr Vincent in his Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. A copy of Edrisi s work in the Escorial was destroyed by the great fire of 1671.
The geography of Edrisi, in the original Arabic, was printed at Rome in 1592, at the Medicean press, from a manuscript preserved in the grand-ducal library at Florence. Both the paper and printing are exceedingly neat, but the volume swarms with typographical errors and forms only a clumsy epitome of the original work. The description of Mecca, which is unaccountably omitted, has been supplied by Pococke from his manuscript. In most bibliographical works this impression has been characterized as one of the rarest of books ; but Adler, in a visit to Florence, found in the palace there 1129 copies, which were exposed to sale at a moderate rate. In 1619, two Oriental scholars, Gabriel Sionita and Joannes Hezronita, published at Paris a Latin translation of Edrisi's work, bearing the title of Geographia NuUcnsis; but it is far from accurate, particularly in the proper names. George Hieronymus Velschius, a German scholar, had prepared a copy of the Arabic original, with a Latin translation, which he purposed to have illustrated with notes ; but death prevented the execution of his design, and his manuscript remains deposited in the university library of Jena. Casiri (Bib. Ar. Hisp., ii. 13) mentions that he had determined to re-edit this work, but he appears never to have executed his intention. The part relating to Africa, pre-eminent certainly in point of importance, was very ably edited in 1796 by Hartmann, who collected together all the notices relating to each particular country, and annexed the statements of the country men and contemporaries of Edrisi, so that his work forms nearly a complete body of Arabian geography, as far as relates to Africa. He afterwards published Hitpania, 3 vols., Marburg, 1801–1818.
A translation into French of the entire work, based on one of the MSS. of the Bibliotheque Nationale, was published by M. Jaubert in 1840, and forms volumes v. and vi. of the llccucil de Voyages issued by the Societe de Geographic ; but a good edition or the original text is still a desideratum. A number of Oriental scholars at Ley den determined in 1861 to undertake the task : Spain and Western Europe were assigned to Professor Dozy; Eastern Europe and Western Asia to Doctor Engelmann ; Central and Eastern Asia to Defremery ; and Africa to Professor Goeje. The first portion of the work appeared in 1866, under the title or Description de TAfrique ct de I Espagne par Edrisi, tcxtc arabe publieparR. Dozy et M. J. de Goeje ; but the other collaborators have hitherto found it impossible to furnish their quota.
writer to give a history of the practical working of these theories, and still less to sketch the outlines of the science of teaching, which may be more conveniently dealt with under another head. The earliest education is that of the family. The child must be trained not to interfere with its parents convenience, and to acquire those little arts which will help in maintaining the economy of the household. It was long before any attempt was made to improve generations as they succeeded each other. The earliest schools were those of the priests. As soon as an educated priesthood had taken the place of the diviners and jugglers who abused the credulity of the earliest races, schools of the prophets became a necessity. The training required for ceremonials, the common life apart from the family, the accomplishments of reading and singing, afforded a nucleus for the organization of culture and an opportunity for the efforts of a philo sopher in advance of his age. Convenience and gratitude confirmed the monopoly of the clergy. The schools of Judea and Egypt were ecclesiastical. The Jews had but little effect on the progress of science, but our obligations to the priests of the Nile valley are great indeed. Much of their learning is obscure to us, but we have reason to conclude that there is no branch of science in which they did not progress at least so far as observation
and careful registration of facts could carry them. They
