Jews have performed the most important service in the department of medi cine. Masergeweih (683) translated from the Syrian into Arabic the of the Pres byter Aaron, a valuable medical work of antiq uity. Nearly all the works of the Greeks and Arabs, the Syrians and Indians, the Nestorians and Christians, were brought to Europe by Jews and thus rescued from oblivion. These very writings were then, mostly by Jews, again translated into Arabic. More than 200 such translations have been restored by modern bibliography out of the dust of libraries. Their activity was precious for the history of the sciences in the Middle Ages. Entire families like the Tibbon and the Kalonymos occupied themselves in such work. It is stated that Jews were the first teachers of medicine at the first European high schools of Salerno and Mont pelier. Whether this is a fact or not it is in every case proved, what the history of medicine illustrates, that the labors of the Jews in this field during the first half of the Middle Ages belong to the greatest achievements in that sci ence, which without such activity could hardly be thought of as existing. In those days, too, Jews were body-physicians of popes and em perors, of sultans and notabilities in many countries.
Present Day Medical this tendency has been naturally strengthened, with the result that in all lands Jews are among the most eminent physicians and medical inves tigators. We need mention only the names of Ludwig Traube, Herman Senator, August Hirsch, Jacob Henle, Eduard Henoch, Albert Neisser, Robert Remak, Julius Pagel, Karl Stork, Emil Zuckerhandl, Johann Schnitzler, Adolf Politzer, Paul Ehrlich, Julius Cohnheim, Wilhelm Ebstein, H. Zeissel, Jac. Fischel, August Wasserman, Ludwig Mauthner, Karl Weigert, Victor Birch-Hirschfeld, John Lebert, Heinrich Jacobson, Julius Wolf, Jacob Gottstein, in Ger many; Germain See, Georges Hayman, Sieg mund Rosenstein and Jacob Stokvis, in Hol land; Sir Felix Semon, in London; G. Valentin and Moritz Schiff, in Switzerland; Gottlieb Cluge, in Belgium; Max Mandelstamm, Josef Bertenson, in Russia; Elias Cohen-Pasha, in Turkey. In the United States it would be no exaggeration to say that 50 names and more could be cited of Jewish physicians and medical experts who are leaders in their profession in every city and included in college faculties. It was Dr. Simon Flexner, who was chosen director of the Rockefeller Institute of Preven tive Medicine. Of German physiologists we might mention among the authorities Julius Bernstein, Herman and Immanuel Munk, Nathan Zuntz, Isidor Rosenthal.
Natural In the natural sciences, Jews number distinguished names in the varied lines of research. The most famous botanists are Ferdinand Cohn, N. Pringsheim, Julius Sachs. Among the eminent chemists are Victor Meyer, whose discoveries were remarkable, Adolf Pinner, Rafael Meldola, Karl Lieber mann, Oscar Liebreich, Georg Lunge, H. G. Magnus. As geologists, mineralogists and pa beologists one may include Emil Cohen, Angelo Heilprin. In physics a name of international prominence is Heinrich Hertz, famous for his discoveries in electricity and magnetism, with F. J. Pisko, P. T. Ries, who was the first Jew
ish Academician in Germany, and Arthur Schuster in England. As zoologists, we can refer to Mendelssohn's contemporary, M. E. Bloch, to Emil Selenka, H. Gabriel, E. Laden burg, G. Lehfeld, Leo Graetz.
For centuries Jews have studied mathematics. Their sagacity, gift of combination, power of thought, have won signal success. The rabbis of the Talmud had mathe matical ability. In the Middle Ages the science of mathematics was preparation for philosophy. In this field Jews were intermediaries and trans lators, as well as independent authors. They were employed in editing the Alfonsin Tables — the chief being Isaac Ibn Sid, with Judah b. Salomo Cohen and Samuel Levi. One of the leading mediaeval Biblical commentators, Abra ham Ibn Ezra, was regarded by the Catholic Middle Ages as patron of mathematics. In later centuries Jews displayed similar interest in that science, and to-day they number leaders in the line. For instance, we may mention Leopold Kronecker, Felix Klein, Immanuel Fuchs, S. Spitzer, W. Konigsberger, Meyer Hirsch, Georg and Mortiz Cantor, Oscar Min kowski, J. Rosanes, G. Schonfliess, S. Wein garten, Ch. Slonimski, Herman Schapiro, Maur ice Levi, J. J. Sylvester. In astronomy can be included Wilhelm Beer, Wilhelm Goldschmidt, Adolf Hirsch, Robert Rubenson, E. Schwarzs child, Prof. Harold Jacoby, of Columbia Uni versity.
Travel and To turn from traversing the skies with the telescope to traversing the earth in the interests of scien tific research, we find a large number of Jewish travelers who have penetrated distant lands. From the legendary Eldad-ha-Dani of the 9th century, Benjamin of Tudela, and Petachia of Regensburg down to the men who shared the sea-journeys of the Portuguese, the Spaniards and the Italians, and accompanied Columbus and Vasco de Gama, to our time, a lengthy list could be given. In recent times can be men tioned J. J. Benjamin, Jacob Saphir, J. Halevy, while among explorers are Emin Pasha, Emil Bessel, Oscar Neumann, Eduard Glaser, Her man Vambery, Edouard Foi, Adolph Strauss, W. G. Palgrave (of Jewish descent), and in America Angelo Heilprin and Franz Boas, who is associated with Arctic research. In this con nection may be recalled the labors of Jews in engineering, science and invention, etc., with Jas. Hirsch, Maurice Levy, J. Bachman for France, E. Herman and G. Schlesinger for Germany, Mendes Cohen, Emil Berliner, Elias E. Ries, Albert Edward Woolf, E. Zalinski for the United States. Here, too, may be included prominent names in numismatics, statistics and economics. In the latter branch Profs. E. R. A. Seligman and J. H. Hollander are author ities in the United States; A. Raffalovicz in Russia; L. Luzzatti, Leone Wollenberg in Italy; as statisticians, Maurice Block is pre eminent in France, Josef KOrosi in Hungary, while Leone Levi did useful work in England. Here belong the founders of modern Socialism — David Ricardo, Karl Marx, Ferdinand Las salle, E. Bernstein, with J. Jastrow, Max Hirsch, Edgar Loening, E. Warschauer, Ludwig Ham burger. As numismatists we can refer to Julius Friedlander, Wilhelm Lowy, A. Merzbacher, Leopold Hamburger, M. A. Levy.