Before Aristotle 9 



daily life of the people. The habits and positions of animals 

 are observed by the hunter, as are the forms and colours of 

 fish by the fisherman ; but the methods of huntsman and 

 fisher do not account for the accurate portrayal of a lion's 

 dentition, the correct numbering of a fish's scales or the close 

 study of the lie of the feathers on the head, and the pads on 

 the feet, of a bird of prey (Fig. 4). With observations such as 

 these we are in the presence of something worthy of the name 

 Biology. Though but little literature on that topic earlier 



-50. 





FIG. 4. Head and talons of the Sea-eagle. Haliaetus albicilla : 



A, From an Ionic vase of the sixth centurv B. c. 



3 - 



B, Drawn from the object. 



From Morin. 



than the writings of Aristotle has come down to us, yet both 



o ' 



the character of his writings and such paintings and pictures 

 as these, suggest the existence of a strong interest and a wide 

 literature, biological in the modern sense, antecedent to the 



* . O . 7 



fourth century. 



Greek science, however, exhibits throughout its history 

 a peculiar characteristic differentiating it from the modern 

 scientific standpoint. Most of the work of the Greek scientist 

 was done in relation to man. Nature interested him mainly 

 in relation to himself. The Greek scientific and philosophic 

 world was an anthropocentric world, and this comes out in 



