According to a new, though probable, notion, maintained by M. de Villoison (Anecdota Graeca, tom. ii. p. 152 - 157), our ciphers are not of Indian or Arabic invention. They were used by the Greek and Latin arithmeticians long before the age of Boethius. After the extinction of science in the West, they were adopted by the Arabic versions from the original MSS., and restored to the Latins about the 11th century.
Note by the REV. H.H. Milman, written 1782, revised 1845— Compare, on the Introduction of the Arabic numerals, Hallam's Introduction to the Literature of Europe, p. 150, note, and the authors quoted therein.