MEDIAEVAL SCIENCE AMONG THE ARABIANS The successors of Mohammed showed themselves curiously receptive of the ideas of the western people whom they conquered.

They came in contact with the Greeks in western Asia and in Egypt, and, as has been said, became their virtual successors in carrying forward the torch of learning.

It must not be inferred, however, that the Arabian scholars, as a class, were comparable to their predecessors in creative genius.
On the contrary, they retained much of the conservative oriental spirit.
They were under the spell of tradition, and, in the main, what they accepted from the Greeks they regarded as almost final in its teaching.
There were, however, a few notable exceptions among their men of science, and to these must be ascribed several discoveries of some importance.
The chief subjects that excited the interest and exercised the ingenuity of the Arabian scholars were astronomy, mathematics, and medicine.

The practical phases of all these subjects were given particular attention.
Thus it is well known that our so-called Arabian numerals date from this period.

The revolutionary effect of these characters, as applied to practical mathematics, can hardly be overestimated; but it is generally considered, and in fact was admitted by the Arabs themselves, that these numerals were really borrowed from the Hindoos, with whom the Arabs came in contact on the east.