74 Greek Biology 



formation are complete. The beating of the heart ... is con- 

 veyed to the lower part of the belly, carrying pulse and life to 

 the inferior members. 



4 While the young [fish] are small and not yet fully developed 

 they have veins of great length which take the place of the 

 navel-string, but as they grow and develop, these shorten 

 and contract into the body towards the heart, as we have 

 said about birds. The young fish and the eggs are enclosed 

 and in a covering, as are the eggs and young of birds. This 

 covering resembles the dura mater [of the brain], and beneath 

 it is another [corresponding therefore to the pia mater of the 

 brain] which contains the young animal and nothing else.' * 



In the next century Conrad von Megenberg (1309-98) pro- 

 duced his Book of Nature, a complete work on natural history, 

 the first of the kind in the vernacular, founded on Latin 

 versions, now rendered direct from the Greek, of the Aristo- 

 telian and Galenic biological works. It is well ordered and 

 opens with a systematic account of the structure and physio- 

 logy of man as a type of the animal creation, which is then 

 systematically described and followed by an account of plants. 

 Conrad, though guided by Aristotle, uses his own eyes and ears, 

 and with him and Albert the era of direct observation has 

 begun. 2 



But there was another department in which the legacy of 

 Greece found an even earlier appreciation. For centuries the 

 illustrations to herbals and bestiaries had been copied from 

 hand to hand, continuing a tradition that had its rise with 



1 The enormous De Animalibus of Albert of Cologne is now available in 

 an edition by H. Stadler, Albertus Magnus DC Animalibus LibriXXVI nach 

 der coiner Urschrift, 2 vols., Miinster i/W., 1916-21. The quotation is 

 translated from vol. i, pp. 465-6. 



2 Conrad's work is conveniently edited by H. Schultz, Das Buch der Natur 

 von Conrad von Megenberg, die erste Natur geschicbte in deutscber Spracbe, in 

 NeU'Hochdeutscbe Sprache bearbeitet, Greifswald, 1897. Conrad's work is 

 based on that of Thomas of Cantimpre (1201-70). 



