Abstract
ON Nov. 8, 1929, the last occasion on which the late Dr. Knobel attended a meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society, he presented to the Society a rare copy of the Hakemite Tables of Ebn Jounis, translated by “Citoyen” Caussin, professor of Arabic in the College of France, An XII de la Republique (= A.D. 1804). This valuable and interesting book throws a strong light on the high standard of accuracy in observation which had been reached by the Arab and Egyptian astronomers. At the time the tables were compiled (circa A.D. 1000) the semi-barbaric European nations were seldom at peace, either internally or externally, and all learning had suffered grievously from civil disturbances and the neglect and ignorance of the ecclesiastical foundations. In the Near East at that time astronomy and mathematics were considered to be an intrinsic part of the education of Mohammedan princes, and astronomers were therefore often attached to their courts. It is true that astrology and prognostics were the vera causa of this princely interest in the majority of cases, but that did not make the observational work of the Arab astronomers any less valuable in the ultimate event.
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