His learning was not universal; far from it;
but he was master of all the knowledge his countrymen possessed.
Thanks to this erudition, he could fill, at least in part, the
gaps in his scientific education. In fact, an understanding of
Talmudic law presupposes a certain amount of information-geometry
and botany for questions concerning land, astronomy for the
fixation of the calendar, zoology for dietary laws, and so on.
Rashi's knowledge, then, was less frequently defective than one
is led to suppose, although sometimes he lagged behind the Talmud
itself. It has been noted that of 127 or 128 French glosses
bearing upon the names of plants, 62 are absolutely correct. In
history Rashi preserved some traditions which we can no longer
verify, but which seem to be derived from sources worthy of
confidence; and if it had not been for Rashi, we would not have
become acquainted with them.
What he knew, therefore, he knew chiefly through reading and
through the instruction of his teachers, to whom he often
appealed; for he possessed that most precious quality in a
scholar, conscience, scientific probity. One example will
suffice to give an idea of his method. Once, when he was
searching for a text in his copy of the Talmud, he found it
corrected. But he did not remember if he himself or his teacher
had made the correction. So he consulted a manuscript in which
he had noted down the variants of his teacher Isaac of Mayence.
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