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58o MEDIEVAL ENGLAND
influential was that of Euclid's Elements. It is scarcely possible
to exaggerate the importance of this work. Before it became
available to them, the Latin mathematicians and natural
philosophers had known only the conclusions ofsome ofEn/
clid's theorems and perhaps the
proofs of one or two; Ade/
lard's translation introduced them to the full conception ofthe
Greek axiomatic method and provided a model for their scien/
tific thinking. It remained the standard translation, the thir/
teenth/century revision becoming the first printed
edition of
1482. Other translations by Adelard were ofthe astronomical
tables, including an account of trigonometry, and (in all
probability) the Liber Alcborismi, a work on the principles of
arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy, by the ninth/
century Persian mathematician, Al/Khwarizmi. These trans/
lations were the first serious introduction of the Latins to the
Arabic treatment of their subjects. Adelard also wrote, early
in life, a work on the abacus and the first known Latin treatise
on falconry, based largely on English usage; and among his
later works was a treatise on the Astrolabe, apparently written
at Bath, which is taken as the meridian for purposes ofillustra/
tion, and dedicated to a young Henry, doubtless Henry Plan/
tagenet, the future Henry IL In that case this admirably sue/
cinct and clear account, based on Arabic sources, of
elementary
astronomy and the various uses of the astrolabe would have
been written for his
royal pupil probably between 1142 and
1143. Another work attributed to him, which would show
still further the wide range of his interests, is an expanded ver/
sion ofthe Mappe Clavicula, which goes back to Greek sources
and deals with the preparation of pigments and other chemical
products.
Following the lead given by Adelard, a succession of
Englishmen throughout the twelfth century joined in the
work both of
translating and of
introducing Arabic and Greek
scientific thought into England. About the middle of the cen/
tury the problematical figure Robert Ketene, or Robert of
Chester (if the two names refer to the same person), working
in Spain, translated from the Arabic one ofthe earliest treatises