46 Greek Biology 



With generative ) , /(> TV/T n / o 



r j II. oo-TpaKobfpua. Molluscs (except Ce- 



shme, buds or spon- } i. i j \ T? t j o 



phalopods), iicnmoderms, &c. 

 taneous generation. J 



With spontaneous JI2. fuo^ura. Sponges, Coelenterates, 

 generation only. 1 &c. 



Some of the elements in this classification are fundamentally 

 unsatisfactory in that they are based on negative characters. 

 Such is the group of Anaima which is parallelled by our own 

 equally convenient and negative though morphologically 

 meaningless equivalent Invertebrata. Others, such as the sub- 

 divisions' of the viviparous quadrupeds, can only be forcibly 

 extracted out of Aristotle's text. But there are yet others, 

 such as the separation of the cartilaginous from the bony fishes, 

 that exhibit true genius and betray a knowledge that can only 

 have been reached by careful investigation. Remarkably 

 brilliant too is his treatment of Molluscs. There can be no doubt 

 that he dissected the bodies and carefully watched the habits of 

 octopuses and squids, Malaria as he calls them. He separates 

 them too far from the other Molluscs, grouped by him as 

 Qstrojcoderma, but his actual descriptions of the structure and 

 sexual process of the cephalopods are exceedingly remarkable, 

 and after being long disregarded or misunderstood were 

 verified and repeated in the course of the nineteenth 

 century. 1 



Passing from his general ideas on the nature and division of 

 living creatures we may turn to some of the most noteworthy 

 of his actual observations. In the realm of comparative anatomy 

 proper we may instance that of the stomach of ruminants. He 

 must have dissected these animals, for he gives a clear and 

 correct account of the four chambers. ' Animals ', he says, 



1 The rediscovery and verification of this and other Aristotelian observa- 

 tions is detailed by C. Singer, ' Greek Biology and the Rise of Modern 

 Biology,' Studies in the History and Method of Science, vol. ii, Oxford, 

 1921. 



