tribe of pygmies, but one of the first philosophers of history, a fore-
runner of Machiavelli, Bodin, Vico, Comte and Curnot. Among
Christian historians of the Middle Ages there are but one or two who
can perhaps compare with him, to wit, Otto von Freising and John
of Salisbury, and the distance between them and him is great indeed,
far greater than the distance between him and Vico. What is equally
remarkable, Ibn Khaldun ventured to speculate on what we should
call to-day the methods of historical research. . . .

INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE, George Sarton
. Baillière, Tindall and Cox.

. . . As regards the science or philosophy of history, Arabic literature
was adorned by one most brilliant name. Neither the classical nor
the medieval Christian world can show one of nearly the same bright-
ness. Ibn Khaldun ( A.D. 1332-1406), considered simply as an historian,
had superiors even among Arabic authors, but as a theorist on history
he had no equal in any age or country until Vico appeared, more than
three hundred years later. Plato, Aristotle and Augustine were not his
peers, and all others were unworthy of being even mentioned along
with him. He was admirable alike by his originality and sagacity,
his profundity and his comprehensiveness. He was, however, a man
apart, as solitary and unique among his co-religionists and contem-
poraries in the department of historical philosophy as was Dante in
poetry or Roger Bacon in science among theirs. Arabic historians
had, indeed, collected the materials which he could use, but he alone
used them. . . .

HISTORY OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY. Robert Flint.
Wm. Blackwood & Sons Ltd.

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